Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto No. 3 & Triple Concerto – Martin Helmchen

German pianist Martin Helmchen continues his journey through Beethoven’s piano concertos with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Andrew Manze. In the Third Concerto, published in 1804, Beethoven seems to be moving away from the Mozartian model and inaugurates his ‘middle period’, using the minor mode to depict a distress and heartache that are certainly not unconnected with the famous ‘Heiligenstadt Testament’, which he wrote in 1802 to record his growing deafness. Martin Helmchen is joined by two partners with whom he performs a great deal of chamber music – violinist Antje Weithaas and cellist Marie- Elisabeth Hecker – to record the Triple Concerto, also written during the composer’s so-called ‘heroic’ period.

Reviews

BBC Music Magazine January 2021

“The generous interplay between the three soloists – Helmchen and violinist Antje Weithaas alongside Hecker – is a joy, finely judged, sensitive and exuberant in turn, and full of refreshing clarity. – 4 out of 5 stars

Gramophone Magazine December 2020

“Every encounter with the incomparable Andrew Manze seems to bring surprising new insights; fortunate the soloist who can rely on his imaginative direction…Helmchen is extraordinarily adept at creating vivid contrasts between areas of repose and eruptions of energy. Without being fussy, he is ever on the lookout for the telling detail.