LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770 – 1827)

The Complete Piano Concertos

 

No.1 in C minor Op. 15

[1] Allegro con brio

[2] Largo

[3] Allegro scherzando

 

No.2 in B flat major Op. 19

[1] Allegro con brio

[2] Adagio

[3] Allegro molto

 

No.3 in C minor Op. 27

[1] Allegro con brio

[2] Largo

[3] Rondo Allegro

 

No.4 in G major Op. 58

[1] Allegro moderato

[2] Andante con moto

[3] Rondo – Vivace

 

No.5 “Emperor” in E flat major Op. 73

[1] Allegro

[2] Adagio un poco mosso

[3] Rondo - Allegro

 

Evgeny Kissin

London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis

 

Continuing with its series of major concerto recordings with Evgeny Kissin, EMI Classics will release the pianist’s first ever complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos in September this year. Kissin is partnered in these recordings by one of the master Beethovenians of our time, Sir Colin Davis, leading the London Symphony Orchestra.

 

Recording the Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle is a momentous experience for any pianist. For generations the concertos have been the touchstone of an artist’s maturity for their stylistic bridge from the classicism of Haydn and Mozart to the first flowering of Romanticism. Although Evgeny Kissin has performed these works numerous times over the years - and even recorded some of them previously - he waited until now to find the best possible musical environment in which to make this very personal statement.

 

Recording Producer Jay Saks, who has worked closely with Kissin since his 1990 Carnegie Hall’s debut, said of the project: “Recording the five Beethovens with Genya [Kissin] and Sir Colin was just wonderful. [It was] such beautiful playing, so musical and entirely in the character of Beethoven. It’s not strange, not quirky, it’s just astonishingly beautiful, technically proficient, musically extremely thoughtful - and profound. As a producer, I have to remember that I am present at recording sessions […] for professional reasons. It is so easy to just sit and listen and get swept away with what he’s doing. These Beethovens are remarkable.”

 

Reviewing a performance of Piano Concerto No. 3 at the Barbican Hall shortly before the recording, musicweb.com wrote that, “Kissin impressed throughout with his marvellous rich, almost chocolate-like tone. His articulation too was impeccable... The orchestra and Sir Colin were on truly wondrous form, and Kissin's pianism proved ... a marvel in its dynamism and delicacy.” classicalsource.com found his playing ”engagingly searching and rapt......with athletic vigour” and musicalcriticism.com described Kissin as ”a phenomenal pianist”.

 

Kissin’s recordings have received numerous awards, including a Grammy, the Edison Klassiek, the Diapason d'Or, the Echo Klassik and the Grand Prix of La Nouvelle Academie du Disque. EMI Classics announced a new collaboration with Evgeny Kissin in March 2007, the first fruit of which was Mozart’s Piano Concerto K491 and the Schumann Piano Concerto, performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis: “Without question, one in a generation,” Billboard wrote; Gramophone Magazine, in their review, described Evgeny Kissin as, “truly one of the elite.” Future projects include Prokofiev's Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with the Philharmonia Orchestra/ Vladimir Ashkenazy and Mozart’s Piano Concerti Nos. 20 and 27 with the Kremerata Baltica.

 

EMI 2063112