During the year of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, his piano concertos are an important source for understanding the history of the practice of this instrument.
In the early nineteenth century, the modern permanently replaced the harpsichord in the hearts of composers. Thus one can still hear the major influence of Mozart in Beethoven’s First Concerto (1795-1800), whereas the Fourth (1805-06) reveals the introspective personality, at once vigorous and generous, of a Beethoven at the height of his artistic maturity.
In the second instalment of his recording of the complete concertos, the German pianist Martin Helmchen performs these two contrasting works with Andrew Manze and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Here is Martin Helmchen in the Beethoven’s final piano concerto (#5)
