From the Klavierfestival Ruhr in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum Daniel Barenboim, soloist and conductor Staatskapelle Berlin 0:00 I. Allegro con brio (18:07) 18:03 II. Largo (9:59) 28:05 III. Rondo. Allegro (10:01) In time for his 65th birthday in 2007, Daniel Barenboim has completed a cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos. Recorded live at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr in May 2007, this recording reflects both a very individual and special reading of Beethoven’s music and the artist’s life-long dedication to the composer. Daniel Barenboim is one of the most prolific and high-profile artists performing on international stages today and Beethoven’s masterpieces have been a key part of his repertoire throughout his career, both as conductor and as pianist. Beethoven himself was a keyboard virtuoso of almost awesome abilities who created a sensation wherever he played. It is no wonder, therefore, that the piano was central to Beethoven’s overall output. Daniel Barenboim, artistic personality and former wunderkind, long an essential part of the international musical scene both on the conductor’s podium and at the piano, is the perfect match for this demanding music. Conducting and playing at the same time, Barenboim chose his orchestra of almost two decades, the Staatskapelle Berlin, which he has praised warmly for its exceptional, dark and warm sound. With a tradition reaching back to 1570, the Staatskapelle Berlin is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. Barenboim plays Beethoven brings together two musical masterminds. New compositional worlds We tend to forget that when Ludwig van Beethoven left his home town of Bonn at the end of 1792 and, still only twenty-two years old, travelled to Vienna to receive the "spirit of Mozart from Haydn's hands", it was above all as a pianist that he created a sensation. (lt is worth adding parenthetically that this was in fact Beethoven's second visit to Vienna, but on this occasion he settled in the city for good.) He was a keyboard virtuoso of almost awesome abilities, taking part in contests with rival pianists which, hugely popular with the general public, were applauded frenetically and invariably ended with Beethoven wiping the floor with his worsted opponents. Not only did this create a furore, it also caused alarm: "This is no human being, but the devil himself," exclaimed the Abbé Gelinek, who as a composer and pianist was acclaimed for his improvisations but who bad just been defeated by Beethoven in one such contest. Vienna had never known anything like it. "The very devil is in this young man," Gelinek went on; such playing was unprecedented. "He can overcome difticulties and produce effects on the piano that we could never have imagined in our wildest dreams." In short, wo may imagine the young Beethoven as the pianist of our dreams. Audiences lay at his feet. Particularly famous is an account by Carl Czerny, one of Beethoven's piano pupils, who describes bis mentor's gifts as an improviser: "In whatever company he might chance to be, he knew how to achieve such an effect upon every listener that frequently not an eye remained dry, while many would break out into loud sobs, for there was something wonderful in his expression in addition to the beauty and originality of his ideas." Beethoven was a romantic seducer who used the black and white keys of the piano as the means by which to ensorcell his listeners. But he was also an infernal charlatan. "After ending an improvisation of this kind," Czerny went on, "he would burst into loud laughter and banter bis hearers on the emotion he had caused in them." lt is no wonder, therefore, that the piano was central to Beethoven's overall output. Like Mozart before him, he wrote much for bis own use and, hence, for his triumphant public appearances, which brought him not only success and fame but also money and the goodwill of his patrons. In total, Beethoven wrote five concertos for piano and orchestra, although some writers would argue that he wrote seven, including an early work in E flat major from bis years in Bonn, Wo04, of which only the solo part has survived, and an arrangement of his famous Violin Concerto, Op. 61, which he reworked as a piano concerto, Op. 61a. The five main piano concertos were written between 1788 and 1809 and therefore cover a period of some two decades. This period witnessed a tremendous development in Beethoven's style, a shift that can be traced step by step in the individual concertos. Each has its own style, its characteristic sound world and its own architecture. It is as if Beethoven opened up a new compositional world each new concerto.

• published: 14 Apr 2015
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