Jean-François Heisser & Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine - Beethoven: Les 5 concertos pour piano (2017) [24/44]

The interpretation of the five concertos presented by Jean-François Heisser and his chamber orchestra offers an insight into the evolution of Beethoven’s style during the decisive ten years or so over which he composed them, on the cusp of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In short, it demonstrates how the improvisatory virtuoso pianist of the first two concertos, conceived at the very end of the eighteenth century in the tradition of Mozart and Haydn asserted his credentials as a composer in his own right with the Third Concerto in the first years of the nineteenth century, before reaching a summit with the surprises of his last two works in the genre.

The highly original and innovative conception of this set derives from the individual vision of Jean-François Heisser, in intimate rapport with his orchestra, who has chosen to record the complete concertos on modern instruments but with a historically informed approach, that is to say, keeping as closely as possible to the sources. They have therefore used the authentic scores with Beethoven’s own performance and expression marks (eschewing the later revisions of these by nineteenth-century publishers) and have researched the characteristics and possibilities of the instruments that would have been used for the first performances of the concertos between 1796 and 1809, more especially the piano, the technical characteristics of which developed continuously at the time, stimulated to a large extent by Beethoven’s demands. …

Tracklist:

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)

CD1
01. Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: I. Allegro con brio
02. Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: II. Largo
03. Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: III. Rondo. Allegro scherzando
04. Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: I. Allegro con brio
05. Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: II. Adagio
06. Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: III. Rondo. Molto allegro

CD2
01. Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: I. Allegro con brio
02. Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: II. Largo
03. Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: III. Rondo. Allegro
04. Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: I. Allegro moderato
05. Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: II. Andante con moto
06. Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: III. Rondo. Vivace

CD3
01. Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: I. Allegro
02. Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: II. Adagio un poco moto
03. Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: III. Rondo. Allegro, ma non troppo

Personnel:
L’Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Jean-Francois Heisser, piano, direction