Inon Barnatan / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields / Alan Gilbert BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos - Part 2

PIANO CONCERTOS - PART 2

Jan Lisiecki / Academy of St Martin in the Fields BEETHOVEN Complete Piano Concertos

Getting a head start on the impending Beethoven 2020 festivities, Canada's Jan Lisiecki has today surprised us with Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos, his fifth album for the Deutsche Grammophon label.

The three-CD set was recorded in December 2018 at Berlin's Konzerthaus, one of the stops on Lisiecki's tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, when he was filling in for an indisposed Murray Perahia.

"The substitution for Murray Perahia was presented to me as a proposal to play any two Beethoven concertos," Lisiecki explained to CBC Music recently. "When I understood the concept of the tour, I requested that if I am indeed to substitute, the original structure would be upheld and I would play all five concertos on tour and in Berlin."

The recording, produced in a matter of a few days, was quickly chosen by Lisiecki's label, Deutsche Grammophon, to launch its Beethoven 2020 rollout. "The recording is entirely live, we could only record the rehearsal and the concert; no touch-up sessions were available. The final result, I hope, is a reflection of a very successful and dynamic live cycle of these concertos."

As with his February 2019 Mendelssohn release with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, for this set of Beethoven concertos Lisiecki and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performed without a conductor.

"I love working with a conductor, and I also thoroughly enjoy working directly with the orchestra musicians," he notes. "The vigour, the focus, the musicianship are all heightened by the direct contact between the musicians and the soloist, and we do everything as one. It is often said that all orchestral performances are an enlarged form of chamber music, but I think this holds true especially in such a compressed setting."

Yeol Eum Son / Academy of St Martin in the Fields / Sir Neville Marriner MOZART

A double Second Prize winner at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 2011 (To my ears she gave the more exciting interpretation of the mandatory Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto: a blistering reading that left me gasping.

I would have given her gold, not silver’ The Times, London) and at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, Yeol Eum Son’s graceful interpretations, crystalline touch and versatile, thrilling performances have caught the attention of audiences worldwide.

Praised for her widely eclectic concerti repertoire, ranging from Bach and all Mozart to Shchedrin and Gershwin, her recent concerto highlights include appearances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Mikko Franck, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, Seoul Philharmonic and a European tour with KBS Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2017-18 season, Yeol Eum makes her UK debuts in Birmingham with the CBSO (Mozart Piano Concerto No 21) and London’s Cadogan Hall with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 8 & 21) on 20 April.

This recording was the last made by Sir Neville Marriner. (Presto Classical)

  

“Conductor Neville Marriner’s final album before his death is full of wit and vitality. Under his inspiring leadership, pianist Yeol Eum Son shines in Mozart’s late Piano Concerto No. 21, playing with a forensic attention to detail and revelling in the smallest gestures while the orchestra responds exquisitely to every nuance. The stunning second movement Andante, with its subtle changes in mood, is utterly radiant, while the final Allegro, each note a sparkling jewel, emerges as a slice of musical perfection.” (Apple Music)