Beethoven: Piano Concertos 3 & 4

by Elisabeth Leonskaja, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Tugan Sokhiev

Overview

This Warner Classics release features the Orchestre National du Toulouse and pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja in two standards of the Beethovenian repertory, the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, and the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58. Although the C minor concerto is conventionally classified as an early Beethoven work, its dramatic qualities point unmistakably toward the composer's middle-period. Of course, Mozart wrote an important minor-key concerto, the Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, and Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, that probably influenced Beethoven's work, but Beethoven's concerto is really not Mozartian. Beethoven conceived the concerto, set it aside, and then returned to it, barely completing it before its scheduled performance (its page-turner complained that Beethoven's notation was like Egyptian hieroglyphics). It is both intense and tightly constructed, single-minded in the same way as the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. The Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, is likewise a completely fresh work, formally free in a way that no other piece had been in the past. By now, the opening piano solo is familiar, but it is worth trying to imagine the shock with which audiences must have experienced it at its 1808 premiere. Indeed, after that performance, with Beethoven in his swan song as concerto soloist, the work was not performed again until 1836, with Mendelssohn at the piano. Leonskaja is better-known as a chamber music player, but her long acquaintance and collaboration with conductor Tugan Sokhiev has been touted as an attraction of this performance. ~ TiVo Staff

Product Details

Release Date:	05/26/2023
Label:	Warner Classics
UPC:	5054197263095
Rank:	193000

Tracks

1. Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Op. 58~Allegro moderato
2. Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Op. 58~Andante con moto
3. Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Op. 58~Rondo: Vivace
4. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Op. 37~Allegro con brio
5. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Op. 37~Largo
6. Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Op. 37~Rondo: Allegro

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Elisabeth Leonskaja   Primary Artist,Piano
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse   Primary Artist,Orchestra
Tugan Sokhiev   Primary Artist,Conductor

Technical Credits

Charlotte Ginot-Slacik   Liner Notes
Ludwig van Beethoven   Composer
Marco Borggreve   Photography
Laure Casenave-Pere   Producer
Robert Sargant   Liner Note Translation
Alain Lanceron   Executive Producer
Vincent Mons   Engineer
Julia Wesely   Photography
Birgit Irgang   Liner Note Translation
Etienne Rosset   Engineer