Beethoven: Piano concertos nos. 2 & 5 "Emperor"

1. Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 "Emperor" - I. Allegro
2. Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" - II. Adagio un poco mosso
3. Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" - III. Rondo. Allegro
4. Piano Concerto No. 2 , Op. 19 - I. Allegro con brio
5. Piano Concerto No. 2 , Op. 19 - II. Adagio
6. Piano Concerto No. 2 , Op. 19 - III. Rondo. Molto allegro

Beethoven's five piano concertos relate, in a sense, part of the composer’s life: some twenty years during which a young musician from Bonn made several revised versions of the first concerto he wrote (a springboard to Viennese success that ended up being called no.2), before becoming the familiar ‘Emperor’ of music embodied by the brilliant inspiration of no.5. Two hundred and fifty years after his birth, it is with these two extremes that Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester have chosen to start an exciting period-instrument trilogy of the concertos that bids fair to be a landmark!