Angelika Kirchschlager HÄNDEL Arien

There have been too many vanity-based recitals of Handel arias, and a few more are in the pipeline. This is not one of them. One of the satisfying approaches to programming Handel arias is to get under the skin of a few chosen characters or singers. All the arias here were composed for the mezzo-soprano Durastanti or the castrato Carestini. Two less familiar arias from Ariodante put the popular "Scherzo infida" and "Dopo none" into a finer sort of context than usual for such programmes (although the relevant portion of the booklet essay confusingly implies that Ariodante was composed for Durastanti). Kirchschlager's singing is ardent and intelligent, but it is a pity that she did not wait to record Ariodante's arias until after she has sung the role on stage: "Scherza infida" is perhaps too feminine and lovely here, without the brooding streak of bitter reproach.
Considering Kirchschlager's success in Glyndebourne's Giulio Cesare, it is inevitable that she gives dynamic renditions of Sesto's best three arias. The fullest source of delight here is Laurence Cummings's marvellous direction of the excellent period-instrument incarnation of the Basle CO; zesty in extrovert music and deeply eloquent in slow music. If nothing else, this is worth having for the tremendous performances of five arias from Arianna in Creta: Tauride's "Qual leon" (featuring two horns) is one of Handel's finest baddie arias. Here, at long last, it gets the sort of recording it deserves. (David Vickers)

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759)
1) Qui d'amor from Ariodante
2) T'amerò dunque...Con l'ali from Ariodante
3) Scherzo infida from Ariodante
4) Dopo notte from Ariodante
5) Svegliatevi nel core from Giulio Cesare
6) Cara speme from Giulio Cesare
7) L'angue offeso from Giulio Cesare
8) Sdegnata sei from Arianna
9) Oh patria!...Sol ristoro from Arianna
10) Salda quercia from Arianna
11) Qual Leon from Arianna
12) Ove son...Qui ti sfido from Arianna

2006 SONY Classical

1 CD DDD

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Plácido Domingo PASIÓN ESPAÑOLA (reuploaded)

For this recording, Plácido Domingo has drawn directly on the origins of music - the music of the street. Domingo and the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, one of Europe's up-and-coming ensembles, have chosen the popular song form of the copla which, along with zarzuela and flamenco, constitutes the three-pronged spear of recent Spanish popular music. The copla, like its close relative, the cuplé, is music written by a composer, but one who draws so extensively on the folk music tradition that his music merges with that tradition and becomes indistinguishable from it. The great composers of Spanish coplas can proclaim with every justification: “I am folk music".
Plácido Domingo's great love for these songs has formed part of his musical memory since childhood. “The copla is always a story - a story told in three or four minutes. It's what I call a 'mini-opera', in which text and music are aimed at touching people deeply. You have to feel this story passionately and you have to sing it with spirit, with feeling, with conviction. The text and the sense of the words are extremely important. The Argentinian tango, Portuguese fado, Mexican ranchera, Spanish copla . . . I'm an opera singer, but one who takes pleasure in all kinds of song in which the vocal part is particularly important and there's a text that needs to be communicated, that has to be conveyed to the audience with very special feeling."

Juan Mostazo Morales (1903 - 1938)
1) Falsa moneda [3:59]
Manuel Font de Anta
2) Cruz de Mayo [2:50]
Juan Mostazo Morales (1903 - 1938)
3) La bien pagá [4:07]
Genaro Monreal (1894 - 1974)
4) Porque te quiero [3:00]
Juan Mostazo Morales (1903 - 1938)
5) El día que naci yo [4:38]
Manuel Quiroga (1899 - 1988)
6) ¡Ay, Maricruz! [3:18]
7) Me embrujaste [4:45]
Genaro Monreal (1894 - 1974)
8 Cariño verdá [4:23]
Manuel Quiroga (1899 - 1988)
9) Te lo juro yo [2:40]
10) No me quieras tanto [4:54]
Juan Mostazo Morales (1903 - 1938), Francisco Merenciano Bosch
11) Antonio Vargas Heredia [5:27]
Manuel Quiroga (1899 - 1988)
12) Ojos verdes [5:52]
Antonio Álvarez Alonso (1867 - 1903)
13) Suspiros de España [3:57]

Plácido Domingo
Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid
Miguel Roa

2008 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
000289 477 6590 5 GH


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Alina Ibragimova BACH Sonatas & Partitas

The dazzling young virtuoso Alina Ibragimova has enthralled audiences for years with her live Bach performances. Critics have acclaimed her faultless intonation, achingly beautiful tone, superlative technique and a musical wisdom far beyond her years. Now, in this important new recording of Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin, Ibragimova brings all these qualities and more to create an interpretation that is both excitingly original and profoundly humble. This is music of unfathomable subtlety, astounding virtuosity and great expressive and architectural beauty.

“Ibragimova's playing is uncommonly neat, with precise fingerwork and relaxed management of the bow; the virtuoso finale of the Third Sonata sparkles effortlessly while remaining for the most part at a piano dynamic. She plays unequal quavers in the Third Partita's Minuet as naturally as if she'd grown up in the 18th century. And finally, all her stylishness and technical refinement is at the service of an ingrained understanding of the music; she makes us feel where the points of harmonic tension and emphasis are, and she's able to do it without distorting the surface...” (Gramophone Magazine, November 2009)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

CD 1:

Sonata No 1 in G minor, BWV10011

1) Adagio [4'32]

2) Fuga. Allegro [5'04]3

3) Siciliana [3'29]

4) Presto [3'18]

Partita No 1 in B minor, BWV10025

5) Allemanda [5'11]

6) Double [2'27]

7) Corrente [3'27]

8) Double [3'18]

9)Sarabande [3'36]

10) Double [3'34]

11) Tempo di borea [3'18]

12) Double [3'08]

Sonata No 2 in A minor, BWV100313

13) Grave [4'34]

14) Fuga [7'46]

15) Andante [5'34]

16) Allegro [5'28]

CD2:

Partita No 2 in D minor, BWV10041

1) Allemanda [5'17]

2) Corrente [2'26]

3) Sarabanda [4'19]

4) Giga [3'26]

5) Ciaccona [14'10]

Sonata No 3 in C major, BWV10056

6) Adagio [4'11]

7) Fuga [10'39]

8) Largo [3'20]

9) Allegro assai [4'19]

Partita No 3 in E major, BWV100610

10) Preludio [3'14]

11) Loure [4'10]

12) Gavotte en rondeau [2'59]

13) Menuet 1 – Menuet 2 [4'58]

14) Bourrée [1'16]

15) Gigue [1'40]

2009 Hyperion

2 Compact Discs DDD

CDA67691/2

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Daniel Hope MENDELSSOHN

Are we to expect a “normal" performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto from Daniel Hope? Is the musician whose interests as a performer run from Bach to Indian ragas, and from Schnittke to jazz, likely to be happy giving us just another standard recording of this familiar old piece to add to the many already in existence? Well, as The New York Times once said of him, “you never know what the brilliant young British violinist will do next", and on this album he presents a version of the Mendelssohn that you are unlikely to have heard before - a new edition which reveals how the work was before the composer made changes to it leading up to publication, partly on the advice of its first soloist, Ferdinand David.

“It's as much about the feeling it gives me as about precise differences", explains Hope, for whom - having already made a highly acclaimed recording of a new critically revised edition of the Berg Violin Concerto - the search for an alternative view has clearly become a standard part of the creative process. “I find it interesting to see how the mind of a composer works, for Mendelssohn as much as for any other, and it was fascinating to discover what he actually had in his head before David advised him. It's that whole premise of trying to get as close as I can to the source. If you have the chance to really dig into what the composer wanted, it can provide greater depth to your performance of the piece."

So much for the performer, but what kind of differences will it make to the listener? “There are well over 100 changes if you compare the versions, and it's been a matter of sitting down with Thomas Hengelbrock and examining each one. There are several passages that will cause people who know the work well to be taken aback at first: most notably where Mendelssohn has taken the solo line up or down an octave, added entirely new notes to the violin part, or slightly changed the wind writing where, for example, David reduced octave passages to a single line. But it is pure Mendelssohn, and all the magical elements that make the Violin Concerto what it is, that make it so loved and so popular, are completely intact."

Hope's own love affair with the Mendelssohn goes back a long way. “It's a piece which has accompanied me throughout my life - it was the first concerto I ever heard live, the first one I ever learned, and the one with which I made my debut. There's also a story attached to it. When I was eight and a student at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London, I desperately wanted to learn it, but basically wasn't good enough and wasn't allowed near it. I became so frustrated that after several months I secretly borrowed the score, but then I got caught and was frog-marched to Director of Music's office - it was a very serious matter to be caught practising the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto without permission! Shortly after that I left the school, so make of that what you will . . ."

With a piece as familiar as this - the Mendelssohn would effortlessly find its way on to any “Great Violin Concertos" list - it can be difficult to pin down the precise qualities that put it there. Hope agrees, but is willing to make an attempt: “All I can say is that it has absolutely everything that a violinist and musician could wish for: the most beautiful melodies, the Romantic struggle of violin against orchestra, a Sturm und Drang quality which at times is close to Beethoven, and that incredible skittish scherzo writing unique to Mendelssohn. It has both virtuosity and lightness, and is a wonderfully happy work, even though there are moments of great poignancy. It's the most perfect concerto because it touches people wherever you play it. The reaction you get from a performance of it is really unlike any other." (Lindsay Kemp)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Violin Concerto in E minor, Op.64
1) 1. Allegro molto appassionato [11:43]
2) 2. Andante [8:31]
3) 3. Allegro molto vivace [5:43]
Daniel Hope
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Thomas Hengelbrock
Octet in E flat, Op.20
4) 1. Allegro moderato, ma con fuoco [13:49]
5) 2. Andante [6:56]
6) 3. Scherzo (Allegro leggierissimo) [4:19]
7) 4. Presto [5:50]
Daniel Hope
Lucy Gould
Sophie Besancon
Christian Eisenberger
Pascal Siffert
Stewart Eaton
William Conway
Kate Gould
Lieder op.8
8) 8. Hexenlied (Anderes Maienlied) [2:12]
Six Songs, Op.34
9) 4. Suleika [2:45]
10) 2. Auf den Flügeln des Gesanges [2:25]
Daniel Hope
Sebastian Knauer

2007 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
477 6634 6 GH

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Rafal Blechacz SONATAS Haydn / Beethoven / Mozart

Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz, born in 1985, swept all five top prizes at the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2005. Much-hyped in an age when hype is not enough to sell a new young classical artist, he seems to have the skills to deliver the goods. Here, in three well-trodden works from the Classical period, he offers fresh readings based on tremendous agility at the keyboard. In Mozart and Haydn, his is the approach of an Eastern European pianist trained in the Romantics. His playing is a bit like that of Evgeny Kissin in this repertory. In all three of the sonatas here, he has the fingers to run through scalar material very fast, with perfect smoothness, and he uses these skills to generate a light, playful approach. The tight chronological focus of the program works to his advantage; by programming a late Haydn sonata against an early Beethoven one, he brings you into the currents of influence from Haydn, Beethoven's teacher, that shaped Beethoven's early music. But unlike so many other artists who use a modern grand piano to push the Haydn "Piano Sonata in E flat major, Hob. 16/52," in the direction of Beethoven, Blechacz takes the opposite approach. The block chords of his Haydn opening movement are light springboards for rapid passagework with all kinds of small humorous details, and the Beethoven seems to grow directly from this language. The development sections of his sonata-form movements have a lot of forward momentum, and the slow movements of all three works show a young pianist acquainted with the nearly lost art of a really charismatic cantabile. If there's a weakness it's the concluding Mozart "Piano Sonata in D major, K. 284," where his light touch seems at odds with the sonic bigness of the opening movement. Mozart here was working with a new instrument, the fortepiano, that seemed to suddenly give him the capability to imitate orchestral textures, and Blechacz is so subtle that this quality is lost. This disc neverthless shows a developing young artist who is living up to the hype. (James Manheim)

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)
Piano Sonata in E flat, H.XVI No.52
1) 1. Allegro [7:32]
2) 2. Adagio [7:07]
3) 3. Finale (Presto) [5:30]
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Sonata No.2 in A, Op.2 No.2
4) 1. Allegro vivace [6:23]
5) 2. Largo appassionato [7:45]
6) 3. Scherzo (Allegretto) [2:58]
7) 4. Rondo (Grazioso) [6:21]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Piano Sonata No.9 in D, K.311
8) 1. Allegro con spirito [4:11]
9) 2. Andantino con espressione [6:07]
10) 3. Rondeau (Allegro) [6:41]

Rafal Blechacz

2008 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
1 CD DDD
477 7453 2 GH

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Joseph Haydn STABAT MATER (reuploaded)

At last there is a Haydn Stabat mater within easy reach. The piece is seldom performed and even more rarely recorded, and this despite the fact that it contains some of the composer's most rich and deeply felt writing. One of the few works not written to order (Prince Nikolaus Esterházy was less than keen on encouraging the sacred duties of his Kapellmeister) the Stabat mater is also one Haydn himself grew to respect highly, and Trevor Pinnock's performance makes it clear why.
The Feast of the Seven Sorrows inspired in Haydn writing of similiar length, gravity and meditative concentration as the Seven Last Words were to do some 20 years later. But the almost unrelieved sobriety of minor keys and slow turning harmonies were subtly offset by a wonderfully acute instinct for pulse, melodic shape and vocal and instrumental colour. It is these elements which Pinnock and his colleagues enjoy to the full.
There is Anthony Rolfe Johnson, for instance, ideally cast to care for the opening's long, bending lines, slightly distorted by syncopation, and to catch the breath in the "dum emisit spiritum". There is Cornelius Hauptmann, not over-characterful of voice, yet splendidly incisive in the dislocated rhythms and jagged line which expresses simultaneously the violence and the indignation at the scourging.
When it comes to the almost Handelian length and strength of Haydn's melodic line, it is Catherine Robbin and Patricia Rozario who come into their own. They, too, are cunningly cast. The energetic leaps from chest to head voice in which Haydn both expressed and manipulated response to the Virgin's grief, catch the flare at the top of Robbin's voice, especially where it tunes in to the cor anglais with which Haydn replaces the oboes in the "0 quarn tristis".
Just as her mezzo flows into the upward spiral of sympathy in "Fac me vere tecum flere", so the gummy legato of Rozario's distinctive soprano creates melismas to rival those of any oboe in the "Sancta mater" duet. Some listeners may well prefer a voice of more conventional purity and high agility in this part, but the unique tint of Rozario's soprano plays its own role in the cumulative power of the performance, and nowhere more so than in the sudden surfacing "Amen" in the final vision of Paradise.
Unequal temperament, the pungency of The English Concert's woodwind soloists, the often glaring brightness of its strings all make their mark on the work's sensibility. There are passing moments where they strive for unnecessary effect, such as in the long decrescendo over the chorus's "Gladius" which sounds over-engineered. But the strength of the chorus's inner parts, the near spiccaio kindling of the strings in hell, and the sensitivity to Haydn's high fibre string writing in this piece compensates for any passing weakness. (Gramophone, September 1990)

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

STABAT MATER for soloists, chorus and orchestra

1. Stabat Mater (Tenor & Chorus) 9:10
2. O quam tristis (Mezzosoprano) 6:30
3. Quis est homo (Chorus) 2:38
4. Quis non posset (Soprano) 6:20

5. Pro peccatis (Bass) 2:35
6. Vidit suum (Tenor) 6:55
7. Eia mater (Chorus) 2:55
8. Sancta mater (Soprano, Tenor) 7:54
9. Fac me vere tecum (Mezzosoprano) 6:27

10.Virgo virginium (Quartet & Chorus) 7:01
11. Flammis orci (Bass) 1:58
12. Fac me cruce custodiri (Tenor) 2:55
13a.Quando corpus morietur (Soprano, Mezzosoprano & Chorus) 2:10
13b. Paradisi gloria / Amen (Soprano & Chorus) 3:03

Patricia Rozario, Soprano
Catherine Robbin, Mezzosoprano
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Tenor
Cornelius Hauptmann, Bass
CHOIR OF THE ENGLISH CONCERT
THE ENGLISH CONCERT on authentic instruments
Leader Simon Standage
Directed by TREVOR PINNOCK

1990 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

CD DDD 429 733 2 AH

ARCHIV Produktion

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Anne-Sophie Mutter BACK TO THE FUTURE (reuploaded)

At the beginning of the new millennium, Anne-Sophie Mutter's ambitious project entitled "Back to the Future" seeks to draw up a musical resumé of the 20th century. Which compositions in the violin literature will live on? Which modern works are here to stay? These are the questions that Anne-Sophie Mutter investigates in each of the five special concerts given in London, New York, Frankfurt and Suttgart respectively during the course of spring 2000.

The violinist's enthusiasm for modern music was aroused as a 15-year-old when she met the Swiss conductor and patron of the arts Paul Sacher. Since then many important composers have expressed their thanks to Anne-Sophie Mutter for her immense interest and support by writing music especially for her: four of the eleven works brought together in this collection are dedicated to her, and she has received numerous prizes for her world-première recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Placed alongside such modern and ultra-modern works are also diverse "classic" modern compositions. A wide arc is thus described, ranging from the early pioneering spirit at the beginning of the 20th century such as can be detected in Sibelius, via important developments such as the twelve-note technique (Berg) or the investigation of folk music (Bartók), up to the present day. Although a composer such as Stravinsky has now become fully accepted by the concertgoer, younger colleagues find it extremely difficult to win an audience. It is here that Anne-Sophie Mutter sees an important task for herself and her fellow musicians: "I believe that it is the duty of every succesful artist to support the yet unknown and nameless in establishing themselves. That is why I am an advocate of those contemporary composers whom I believe deserve my support."

CD 1:
Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47
1) 1. Allegro moderato [15:55]
2) 2. Adagio di molto [8:26]
3) 3. Allegro, ma non tanto [7:15]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Staatskapelle Dresden

André Previn

Krzysztof Penderecki (1933 - )
Metamorphosen, Konzert für Violine und Orchester Nr. 2
4) 1. Allegro ma non troppo [14:22]
5) 2. Allegretto [3:21]
6) 3. Molto [4:33]
7) 4. Vivace [2:06]
8) 5. Scherzando [5:07]
9) 6. Andante con moto [8:34]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

London Symphony Orchestra

Krzysztof Penderecki

CD 2:
Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Sonata No.2 for violin & piano, Sz.76
1) 1. Molto moderato [8:03]
2) 2. Allegretto [11:44]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Lambert Orkis

Norbert Moret (1921 - 1998 )
En reve
3) 1. Lumière vaporeuse [7:13]
4) 2. Dialogue avec l'Étoile [5:44]
5) 3. Azur fascinant (Sérénade tessinoise) [6:40]

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945)
Violin Concerto No.2, Sz.112
6) 1. Allegro non troppo [16:16]
7) 2. Andante tranquillo [9:58]
8) 3. Allegro molto [12:13]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Seiji Ozawa

CD 3:
Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Concerto en re for violin and Orchestra
1) 1. Toccata [5:51]
2) 2. Aria I [4:09]
3) 3. Aria II [5:13]
4) 4. Capriccio [5:49]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Philharmonia Orchestra

Paul Sacher

Witold Lutoslawski (1913 - 1994)
Partita (for Violin and Orchestra)
5) 1. Allegro giusto [4:14]
6) 2. Ad libitum [1:12]
7) 3. Largo [6:22]
8) 4. Ad libitum [0:47]
9) 5. Presto [3:51]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Phillip Moll

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Witold Lutoslawski

Chain 2 Dialogue for Violin and Orchestra
10) 1. Ad libitum [3:48]
11) 2. A battuta [4:58]
12) 3. Ad libitum [4:58]
13) 4. A battuta - Ad libitum - A battuta [4:27]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Witold Lutoslawski

CD 4:
Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
1) Tzigane [10:01]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

James Levine

Wiener Philharmoniker

Wolfgang Rihm (1952 - )
"Gesungene Zeit" 1991/92 - Music for violin and orchestra
2) 1. Beginning: quasi senza [14:27]
3) 2. Takt 179: meno mosso [9:56]

Alban Berg (1885 - 1935)
Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel"
4) 1. Andante - Allegro [11:31]
5) 2. Allegro - Adagio [16:12]
Anne-Sophie Mutter

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

James Levine

2000 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

4 CD DDD
463 7902 GX 4

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Akiko Suwanai J.S. BACH Violin Concertos

The youngest ever winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Akiko Suwanai has established an international career, performing regularly in concert and recital in the major cities of Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Upcoming highlights include tours with the London Symphony Orchestra under Valeriy Gergiev, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Sakari Oramo, and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse under Tugan Sokhiev. She will also perform with the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orquesta Nacional de España, Residentie Orkest, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo and Bamberger Symphoniker amongst others.
In spring 2009 Akiko Suwanai was invited to open the Shanghai International Music Festival as the first Japanese violinist, an important event broadcast on national television. She recently gave the world premiere of Peter Eötvös's composition Seven at the Lucerne Festival with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra under the baton of Pierre Boulez.
Akiko Suwanai’s extensive discography with Universal Music has garnered much critical acclaim. Her latest release was a recital disc of Beethoven Sonatas with Nicholas Angelich.
Akiko Suwanai performs on the Antonio Stradivarius 1714 violin ‘Dolphin’, kindly loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation.
In May 2006 Akiko Suwanai's recording of Bach violin concertos remained as the Number 1 album on the iTunes US Classical chart for three weeks.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Concerto in D minor, BWV 1043 for 2 Violins, Strings, and Continuo
1) 1. Vivace
2) 2. Largo ma non tanto
3) 3. Allegro
Violin Concerto No.2 in E Major, BWV 1042
4) 1. Allegro
5) 2. Adagio
6) 3. Allegro assai
Concerto in D minor, BWV 1060 for oboe, violin, strings & continuo
7) 1. Allegro
8) 2. Adagio
9) 3. Allegro
Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV 1041
10) 1. (Allegro moderato)
11) 2. Andante
12) 3. Allegro assai

Akiko Suwanai, Violin and Conductor
Volkhard Steude, Violin (BWV 1043)
Francois Leleux, Oboe (BWV 1060)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Leader: Alexander Janiczek

2006 Decca Music Group Limited
1 CD DDD
475 6934 PH

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Mikhail Pletnev BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5

The Emperor is the only Beethoven piano concerto not to have been premiered by Beethoven himself. By 1811 his deafness was too acute to make ensemble playing possible. As a consequence it is more closely annotated than any of its predecessors. The cadenzas are also fully integrated, including the thrilling cadenza-like passage at the start of the work where Beethoven views the home key from three different perspectives.
It will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed this cycle so far that Pletnev's realisation of the opening cadenza is as wilful as it is wayward. Sifting through a shelf-full of recordings of the Emperor, I could find only one that remotely resembled this Glenn Gould's, which is almost as eccentric and just as unconvincing. Of course, no pianist plays the exordium "straight"; the espressivo quaver and crotchet descents, the trills and magically judged cadences preclude such an approach. The great Beethoven pianists tend to take this in their stride, deploying the art that disguises art. Even those who have favoured a more moulded approach - an Arrau or a Rubinstein - manage to maintain a line and a focus.
Not so Pletnev whose hugely protracted peacock display is followed by a somewhat nondescript account of the orchestral ritornello. As Nalen Anthoni observed when reviewing the First and Third concertos in this series, conductor Christian Gansch doesn't have a great deal to say about the music. His soloist, alas, has far too much to say, often at the composer's expense. (Richard Osborne)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Concerto No.5 in E flat major Op.73 -"Emperor"
1) 1. Allegro [20:03]
2) 2. Adagio un poco mosso [7:17]
3) 3. Rondo (Allegro) [10:26]

Mikhail Pletnev
Russian National Orchestra
Christian Gansch

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Mikhail Pletnev BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4

Mikhail Pletnev sets the young Beethoven fairly and squarely before us in the opening movement of the young tearaway's first (albeit numerically second) piano concerto. It is quite an experience witnessing so much testosteronefuelled wit and irascibility being gathered up into a finished artwork that defiantly refuses to lie down. "Stagger the toffs!" was Beethoven's cry. "Stagger the lot of you!" appears to be Pletnev's.
It's difficult to argue with his wonderfully rambunctious account of the first movement, though his ill-realised account of the cadenza, born of a misplaced desire to seek out every available kind of discord and syncopation, is hardly a thing to cherish. There is thuggery too in his realisation of the uproariously skittish finale. Relishing the iconoclastic element in Beethoven's humour is one thing; ringing the jokes in black marker pen and adding exclamation marks and the occasional false moustache is quite another. And yet there is real magic at the end of the slow movement (as there is at the end of the slow movement of the Fourth Concerto).
Pletnev's deliberately loud and clunking start to the Fourth, the most brilliant of Beethoven's piano concertos and the most sublime, is another of his statements of intent: a threat of things to come. He is too accomplished a pianist not to give pleasure at times with the eloquence of his playing and the strength of his address. Neville Cardus used to talk of Claudio Arrau presenting Chopin "as the full man, artist and full-fl bred musician". It is clear that it is Pletnev's aim to make a similar statement on behalf of Beethoven's altogether less fragile personage.
I can't imagine a more thunderous or blackbrowed account of the concerto than this. It left me stirred and shaken but not - for what it's worth - greatly convinced. (Richard Osborne)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Concerto No.2 in B flat major, Op.19
1) 1. Cadenza: Ludwig van Beethoven [13:45]
2) 2. Adagio [8:28]
3) 3. Rondo (Molto allegro) [6:11]
Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op.58
4) 1. Allegro moderato [19:29]
5) 2. Andante con moto [5:02]
6) 3. Rondo (Vivace) [10:31]

Mikhail Pletnev
Russian National Orchestra
Christian Gansch

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Mikhail Pletnev BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3

The conventional mingles with the unconventional. Christian Gansch represents the conventional. He is a well schooled conductor and helpful partner with a good understanding of idiom and a keen ear for orchestral layout - violins are separated - but, interpretatively, he has nothing special to say about the music.
The unconventional comes from Mikhail Pletnev. His entry in the opening movement of No 1 occasions the first surprise. He slows the tempo right down, perhaps to underline the introduction of a new theme, one that also reappears unexpectedly, if slightly disguised, in the slow movement. More contentious are the deviations from the text, not simply the firework of a glissando into the recapitulation. Many pianists alter Beethoven's semiquaver run here, but they don't reinforce chords; nor do they spread them in the Largo to replace serenity with rhetoric. And is the variation to the rhythm between 149" and 202" in the finale meant to create outrage? Or highlight humour?
Pletnev is an entrancing musician. How so begins with his total control of the whole instrument, not just the keyboard. He plays into the piano, using its in-built resonance to extract a range of prismatic sounds devoid of harshness. And his left hand has a sovereignty of its own, so bass-lines often acquire unusual significance. Co-ordinate such mastery with profound responses to the music, and extraordinary interpretations follow. The emendations, particularly the addition of harmony to Beethoven's exposed treble towards the end of No 3, may seem downright impertinent. But that's Pletnev. Try to ignore his "solecisms", because the total experience he offers (which DG could have enhanced by not spreading the piano from centre to extreme right, and pulling it closer for the cadenzas) is something else. (Nalen Anthoni)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)
Piano Concerto No.1 in C major, Op.15
1) 1. Allegro con brio [13:37]
2) 2. Largo [10:19]
3) 3. Rondo (Allegro scherzando) [8:49]
Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, Op.37
4) 1. Allegro con brio [15:55]
5) 2. Largo [8:58]
6) 3. Rondo (Allegro) [9:58]

Mikhail Pletnev

Russian National Orchestra

Christian Gansch

2007 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg

1 CD DDD

477 6415 1 GH

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