This is the second volume in pianist Hannes Minnaar’s ongoing series of recordings of Beethoven Piano Concertos in which the Dutch pianist is accompanied by his compatriots, Jan Willem de Vriend and the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra.
As we listen, we can hear the power, the lyricism, and humor in Beethoven’s music. Those were among Beethoven’s own playing characteristics – identified by his pupil and fellow composer Carl Czerny – and they are certainly to be found in these performances of the Piano Concertos by Hannes Minaar, surely among the most interesting and sought after pianists of his generation.
On this CD, Minnaar, De Vriend and his orchestra play the concertos in reverse order. Artistically, this is easy to justify: introduced as it were by the more balanced, more modest Piano Concerto No. 2, No. 1 radiates all the more festiveness because trumpets, clarinets and timpani have come to join the orchestra.
Here is Hannes Minnaar performing the concerto number 4 by Beethoven:
