Musical careers last longer than they used to, and here, it is difficult to detect any weakening of the long-impressive technique of pianist Garrick Ohlsson, 74 years old, when this album was recorded in the summer of 2022. The feat is especially impressive in that all five of the Beethoven concertos (plus the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, with no piano) were performed live within a single week. Ohlsson is backed by the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of veteran conductor Donald Runnicles, who points out that he and Ohlsson had very little discussion about interpretation prior to the performances. It is here that Ohlsson's expertise is evident. He doesn't blaze any new paths in these works, but one has the feeling that he holds the performances, to borrow a phrase from John Le Carré, like a thrush's egg in his hand. His readings are simple in the best way. Sample the arresting opening of the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58; it is direct, yet there are micro shapings that bespeak long familiarity. In fact, it is in the first two concertos, where the lengthy expositions make it less possible for Ohlsson to control the flow of events, that are less effective. The partnership between Ohlsson and the orchestra, though, is lively throughout, and Runnicles gets excellent results from what is likely essentially a pickup group; the orchestra is moderately sized and agile. Superb live recording from Reference Recordings, discussed in detail in the booklet, is another draw. © James Manheim /TiVo

The late Beethoven recordings of pianist Mitsuko Uchida have been career makers, and it is cause for celebration that she has capped them with the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli, Op. 120, a work that perhaps poses deeper interpretive challenges than any of the late sonatas. The Variations often show a kind of rough humor, and a performer may pick up on that, or the player may deemphasize the humor and seek out the epic qualities of the Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109, and Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111. Uchida does neither. The outlines of her usual style, high-contrast and a bit dry, are apparent, but she does not let them dominate her reading. What Uchida realizes is that the abrupt transition from humor to the deepest existential ruminations is part and parcel of Beethoven's late style, and she works to hone the particular character of each Beethoven variation. Her left hand, as usual, is strikingly powerful, and this brings out many striking details (consider the stirring variation 16). The trio of slow minor variations toward the end are given great seriousness but are not in the least overwrought; Uchida achieves an elusive Olympian tone through the final variations. There is much more to experience here, for each variation is fully thought out, but suffice it to say that this is one of the great performances of the Diabelli Variations.© TiVo

Recorded over the course of four concerts in Berlin in 2010, Sir Simon Rattle and “his” Berlin Philharmoniker successfully punctuate their complete collection of symphonies with these five concertos. While these were recorded before the symphonies, you can identify a distinct chamber music-like tonality, with an orchestra whose dimensions have been clearly reduced compared to the traditional size of the renowned Berlin ensemble. This integral work is first and foremost an orchestral delight thanks to the lyricism of the wind section and the silky characteristics of the strings. Far from being simply a support act to the soloist, the Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida, the orchestra instead seems to lead the operation with a speedy rhythm and an inimitable sense of musical rhetoric. Mitsuko Uchida almost appears to play modestly, never wanting to hog the spotlight, in a constant dialogue with the conductor. From the bonhomie of the first two concertos through to the Fifth (wrongly named the Emperor) which paved the way for the more romantic concertos, via the Fourth with its sublime Andante con moto which raises some metaphysical questions, this intimate performance cements this Beethovenian collection in its rightful era, lest we forget that these concertos were written in the first decade of the nineteenth century, in the midst of a triumphant Viennese classicism at a time when Joseph Haydn was writing his final few masterpieces and Napoleon’s Grande Armée was bombarding Vienna. With such a sonic perspective and a sound recording which never lets the piano become intrusive, these concertos which are often performed like works written fifty years afterwards, strike an instrumental balance and recover their true musical essence, which had slowly been beginning to disappear. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Following two stunning projects with his spouse, the cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Martin Helmchen started a solo collaboration with the label Alpha Classics, publishing a remarkable version of the Variations Diabelli, one of the best in recent years, and certainly better than the one by Gorini on the same label. As part of the year of Beethoven, he has teamed up with conductor Andrew Manze for a complete recording of the Concertos by the Master of Bonn. This first volume sets the tone. From the first movement of the Second Concerto, we are gripped by the speed of the ensemble, the resurgence of a revitalised musical spirit, a supreme musicality: in sum, a celebration of the feverish creativity of the Master of Bonn. After this allegro which is truly "con brio", a major contrast is achieved with the Adagio where Martin Helmchen's singing is reserved, with a lyrical tenderness that recalls Mozart's later Concertos. But there is also something profoundly modern here, in that accumulated sense of waiting, of "suspense" and suspension, which are the hallmarks of the young Beethoven. In the Emperor, recorded at the Berliner Philharmoniker, Helmchen's piano continues to bring opposites together – this mix of impetuosity and tender lyricism – without ever feeling forced. The lively, sensitive orchestra, conducted by Manze, provides a sweeping breadth that Martin Helmchen must have long dreamt of. Amidst the whole swelling ocean of Beethoven, this new release is not to be missed. © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

Together with the Berlin-based Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (DSO) Mari Kodama and her husband Kent Nagano have now completed the recording of all of Beethoven's piano concertos by jumping, as it were, back in time twice: the last element of this recording series that has spanned more than 13 years was Beethoven's concerto "number nought" (WoO 4) – personally edited by Mari Kodama from the autograph score. The original manuscript of this piano concerto is kept at the State Library in Berlin. This is not a completed score, because there is no orchestration. That said, Beethoven annotated the short score, especially in the first two movements, with indications as to which instrument was to play which part. The orchestra score which is available today was written in the early twentieth century based on those annotations. The only problem is: "Today, armed with the knowledge we now have acquired about the young Beethoven, we would perform this concerto quite differently in places," explain Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano in unison. They therefore present a very personal adaptation that emerged during rehearsal with the orchestra and at the recording sessions, and which reflects Kodama's and Nagano's individual image of Beethoven. They aim to make audible the exuberant freshness and urgent sense of awakening in the young, almost childlike Beethoven's writing shortly before his artistic powers were to burst forth, the joie de vivre and vital energy in a style that owes something to the playfulness of both Haydn and Mozart. That is Mari Kodama's intention, and she plays it in precisely such a versatile manner. Combined with the classical canon of the piano concertos nos. 1–5, the resulting comprehensive edition is complemented by the Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello op. 56, the Rondo WoO 6 and the Eroica Variations op. 35, offering insight into the artist's longstanding involvement with her musical companion Ludwig van Beethoven. And the recordings of his works seem to lead the listener through the composer's life. "If you play all of them, it is like accompanying Beethoven on a journey through his life," explains Mari Kodama, and Kent Nagano adds: "You acknowledge the musical genius and at the same time you recognise the development of European music, because Beethoven was undoubtedly its pioneer." He led the way in changing the structure, form and harmony of music, just as there was an equally radical shift in the world around him; after the French Revolution society and business and the incipient industrial revolution began to alter the way people lived. "He is and remains an optimist, someone who can do no other than believe in what he wishes to communicate to us through his music," explains Kodama. She says this helps her. The fact that she herself is an optimist can partly be attributed to Beethoven. Kodama, Nagano and the DSO – one might imagine them almost as a trio where all the musicians have blind faith in each other and are therefore able to produce a degree of musical intensity that brings the young Beethoven back to life. © Berlin Classics

Many of us may have set goals for the new year, but harmonia mundi set theirs particularly high. The independent record label intends on killing two birds with one stone by launching an extensive Beethoven edition that spans from 2020 (one hundred and fifty years since his birth) to 2027 (the bicentenary of his death), in a series of new recordings by new musicians under the label. For years to come, this non-exhaustive edition will be a reflection of the interpretative trends from the 21st century. This first volume of the Complete Piano Concertos on period instruments (there will be another on modern instruments) brings together the two extremes of Beethoven’s repertoire, namely Concertos No. 2 and No. 5, the former of which was composed first. Kristian Bezuidenhout’s exceptional musicality renders the dispute over instrument manufacturing seemingly artificial and fruitless, as he is at ease playing both early and modern pianos. After an inspired performance of Mozart’s complete Sonatas, we follow him as he journeys through the Beethoven Concertos, working closely with the Freiburg Barockorchester ensemble, for whom Bezuidenhout and Gottfried von der Goltz have been in charge of artistic direction since 2017-2018. This may not be a ground-breaking endeavour but what sets it apart is the meticulous attention to detail from Kristian Bezuidenhout and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado with regards to articulations and dynamics. The same can also be said for their choice of cadenzas, which the pianist often reinterprets using the same instrument for the complete work, resulting in a modern rendition played on a Viennese Conrad Graf piano dating from 1824. Confronted with musical practices from the end of the 18th century, the music of young Beethoven comes alive as never before. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Released as separate CDs between 2012 and 2014, Leif Ove Andsnes' recordings of Ludwig van Beethoven's five piano concertos and the Choral Fantasy have been brought together in this slip-covered package from Sony. The loose concept behind this project was to show how Beethoven's musical development reflected the events and journeys of his life, from his early Classical period through his heroic, visionary works. This simple theme, a commonplace in Beethoven biography, and Andsnes' speculative commentary, are secondary to the performances, though, which he delivers with a somewhat streamlined and muscular style in his readings with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. While using modern instruments and only approximating a Classical sound in the orchestra's lean textures, Andsnes offers little to appeal to early music enthusiasts, though his concessions to historically informed practice are noticeable. Overall, however, Andsnes' interpretations are fresh and energetic, and there is much in this set to attract mainstream classical listeners.© TiVo

Supraphon made these recordings for Nippon Columbia within a short timeframe, from June 1983 to April 1984, at the Rudolfinum in Prague. They capture the mature ensemble when it included the pianist Josef Hála, who in 1980 had replaced Jan Panenka. The trio’s sound was dominated by the strings, primarily the violin of Josef Suk, who also defined the interpretation principles. The singularity of the ensemble and their recordings alike rests in infallible technique, sonic refinement, admirable interplay and profound musicality devoid of any showboating. © Supraphon