Mari Kodama / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Kent Nagano BEETHOVEN The Piano Concertos - Triple Concerto

On the evidence of this set, the husband-and-wife team of Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano enjoy a keen musical rapport. This may not be the greatest or most pristine Beethoven piano concerto cycle on the CD market but it’s pretty good. Try the bold way Kodama tackles her initial entry on the first movement of the First Concerto, while the cadenza is strongly projected (I love the cheeky little arpeggio just before the close), even if some minor detail is lost in the fray, ie in the down figurations at around 12’55”. The Largo is feelingly played and the closing Rondo whizzes along nicely, the odd hurried turn notwithstanding.

The first-movement cadenza of the Second Concerto is perhaps rather earthbound and I wasn’t too sure about the way Kodama gate-crashes the close of the Third Concerto’s initial tutti with her first entry. Then again, at 2’23” into the Largo, her handling of the second set delivers poetry to spare, while her almost imperceptible easing into the closing rondo marks a definite climate change without breaking the spell. The same CD features an affable reading of the Triple Concerto, Nagano proving himself the ideal master of ceremonies, his tempos lively but never overstretched, his manner warmly accommodating without abandoning the limelight. The opening tutti is a fair case in point, Johannes Moser’s first entry quietly mellifluous, Kolja Blacher bowing a bright, silvery line. Thereafter we’re talking chamber music writ large, both soloists sounding in happy accord, Nagano an obvious soulmate. The central ‘song without words’ (which is how the Largo has always struck me) holds fast to a sense of intimacy, the closing Rondo alla polacca a perfectly happy summation, if without the smiling demeanour of, say, the Argerich, Capuçon, Maisky recording.

The Fourth Concerto is nicely done though the Andante con moto’s imploring central cadenza sounds a little prosaic. Best of all is the Emperor’s finale, which lilts along seemingly without a care in the world. Here Kodama is at her best. As to where this set stands in the firmament of great Beethoven concerto recordings, I’d say not terribly high. Pollini with Abbado, Fleisher with Szell, Aimard with Harnoncourt – to name just three obvious rival contenders – all have more to tell us about the music. (Rob Cowan / Gramophone)