Boris Berezovsky, Thomas Dausgaard - Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 (2001-2015) 4CDs

There's a tendency on the part of some performers to play Beethoven's First and Second Piano Concertos as if they were really by Mozart–all elegance, poise, and refinement. Happily, Boris Berezovsky finds the Beethovenian fire burning beneath the Mozartian surface. Right from his vibrant entrance in Concerto No. 1, Berezovsky plays with fierce energy (despite his generally light touch) and a clearly discernible enjoyment. This is matched Thomas Dausgaard's equally electric reading of the orchestral part, which in many ways reminds me of the classic Szell/Fleisher recording. Of course the small-scale sound of the 38-member Swedish Chamber Orchestra cannot possibly equal the full sonority of the Cleveland Orchestra in its heyday, but it's remarkable how Szell's clear textures and crisp articulation match Dausgaard's, who, by the way, is using the new Barenreiter editions. Berezovsky seems to be of like mind with Fleisher, at least terms of his singing tone and mercurial style.

Concerto No. 2, which can be a rather bland affair in the wrong hands, here sparkles with refreshing vitality, giving us reason to listen anew. As a bonus, the disc includes Rondo in B-flat, which originally was the finale of concerto No. 2 before Beethoven replaced it with the slightly more audacious one we know today. It's an enjoyably good-natured piece, another example of Beethoven's stunning piano writing, masterfully rendered by Berezovsky. Simax's recording places piano and orchestra in close proximity–an effect that works well in this context, especially with these chamber-size forces.

Review by Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist:

Concerto for Piano no 1 in C major, Op. 15
01. I. Allegro con brio (13:29)
02. II. Largo (09:37)
03. III. Rondo. Allegro (08:39)

Concerto for Piano no 2 in B flat major, Op. 19
04. I. Allegro con brio (13:03)
05. II. Adagio (08:48)
06. III. Rondo. Molto Allegro (05:49)

07. Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in B flat major, WoO (08:52)









The soloists step into the light again for this fifth release in the Simax-series with the complete orchestral music of Beethoven. After the wonderful reception of piano concertos 1 and 2 (PSC 1181) its now time for concerto no.3, with Berezovsky on exceptional form. Plus a stunning rendering of the Triple concerto. Dausgaard leads with a sensitive ear to the poetry and somewhat melancoly expression found in both these concertos, engaging the orchestra in "chamber musical" ensemble with the soloists. But there are massive outbursts as well, in sparkling performance!

The third piano concerto

In scale, the third concerto is conceived on slightly broader lines than those of the first two numbered concertos, which more closely emulate the classical proportions of Mozart's examples in the genre. Yet in one other particular it follows Mozartian precedent in copying his device (employed uniquely in the C minor concerto, K491, of 1786) of allowing the soloist to continue after the first movement cadenza - in the standard classical coda the orchestra alone was heard from this point on.

The triple

Beethoven's next concerto was composed within a year or so of the premiere of Op.37, and is the only completed example in his output of a concerto for more than one instrument. A frequent practice in the days of Vivaldi or Bach, the putting together of a pair or a group of soloists in the Baroque concerto metamorphosed into the Sinfonia concertante of the classical period, of which both Haydn and Mozart left notable examples. The growing individualism of the nineteenth century, however, which preferred the dramatic notion of the one against the many, saw the virtual extinction of the genre: only Brahms's Double Concerto of 1887 rivals Beethoven's Triple Concerto as a work of the first rank in this entire period. Boris Berezovsky has invited cellist Mats Rondin, sought after chamber musician, and the co-principal leader of the orchestra Urban Svensson in the Triple Concerto.

Tracklist:

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
01. I. Allegro con brio (15:52)
02. II. Largo (09:57)
03. III. Rondo Allegro (09:21)

Triple Concerto in C minor, Op.56
04. I. Allegro (16:40)
05. II. Largo (04:57)
06. III. Rondo alla Polacca (12:17)









Starting the second half of our great Beethoven series, Boris Berezovsky returns with the Fourth Piano Concerto and Beethoven's own version of the Violin Concerto arranged with the piano as the solo instrument. Boris's earlier contributions to the series have been very well received indeed, and the Russian virtuoso has more up his sleeve.

The works on this seventh volume in this series originates from a particularly fruitful time in Beethoven"s career as a composer, around the same time as his fourth and fifth symphony and the Razumovsky quartets. He continues to expand the formal boundaries for the concerto, and the result is of course some of the most fantastic music ever written.

Quite a night for Beethoven fans

Beethoven wrote the piano concertos with himself in mind as soloist, the fourth was in fact the last one to be premiered with Beethoven at the piano. This was of course due to this growing deafness in later years. But on the 22nd of December 1808 he was in charge of a magnificent concerto, containing the premieres of the fifth and sixth symphonies, the Choral Fantasy, parts of the Mass in C and the fourth piano concerto.

Adaptation to get more performances

Beethoven"s editor Muzio Clementi (yes, the one with the sonatinas…) persuaded him to make a transcription of the violin concerto with the piano as solo instrument when making an agreement for publishing in England. The reasoning behind this request was simply to get more performances of the work, as piano concertos was by far the most popular genre at the time. In fact, we owe it to this transcription that we have a cadenza for this concerto, as Beethoven made one for first movement of the piano version, while leaving it out in the original.
Just listen to that Boris…music in the moment

Capturing the music of the moment, Boris Berezovsky is an unconventional artist in 2005. His name always pops up when the term "virtuoso" is being discussed, of course based on the total control of musical expression and instrument that he displays. And coming from the great Russian tradition, his approach may differ from the western way of doing things these days. What is perhaps the most fascinating in Boris" Beethoven-playing is how he manages to conjure up such intensity and focus within the historically informed framework being set up by Dausgaard and the SwCO, resulting in relentless and always informing and interesting moments of music.



Tracklist:

Piano Concerto no. 4 in G major, op.54
01. I. Allegro moderato (18:11)
02. II. Andante con moto (04:34)
03. III. Rondo. Vivace (09:54)

Piano Concerto in D major, op. 61a (arr. from Violin Concerto)
04. I. Allegro ma non troppo (20:49)
05. II. Larghetto (09:33)
06. III. Rondo (Allegro) (09:07)









Though close to each other in date, the two works on this disc, which are the last in which Beethoven wrote for piano and orchestra together, are in other respects quite dissimilar. The Emperor is a standard piano concerto or so it seems to us, because it was uniquely influential in defining the form for the next 100 years. To its first audiences it must have seemed highly individual, and even idiosyncratic. The Choral Fantasy, on the other hand, appears to us an unorthodox, even unique conception, much freer in form, as befits the title fantasy which Beethoven chose for it. Yet both are entirely characteristic of the composer in their deployment of a structure that served the purposes of the content of the work itself to its greatest advantage. Concluding the Complete Orchestral Works of Beethoven, this vol. 12 finds Thomas Dausgaard, Boris Berezovsky and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra on top form.



Tracklist:

Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat major 'Emperor', Op.73
01. I. Allegro (18:51)
02. II. Adagio un poco mosso (07:09)
03. III. Rondo (09:41)

04. Fantasia for piano, soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op.80 (18:17)