Ronald Brautigam is an excellent Beethoven pianist, and he turns in a performance of the Second concerto’s solo part that’s as lively and attractive as anyone has yet recorded on a modern instrument. It’s especially nice to hear the finale taken at a tempo that permits all of the main theme’s rhythmic bounce to register without it ever sounding breathless or frantic. The same holds true of the Rondo in B-flat, the Second concerto’s original finale. Indeed, the only caveat in these performances concerns the slow movements, where Andrew Parrott, evidently with the acquiescence of his soloist, encourages the orchestra to indulge in that dry, vibrato-less string tone that is the very opposite of stylishness (and utterly contrary to what their own sources say about sustained lyrical music in slow tempos).
The E-flat concerto is an early work in Mozartian style, here very nicely reconstructed by Brautigam from the existing piano score. Indications of scoring in the keyboard part point to an orchestra of strings, two flutes, and two horns, a very unusual combination, and I’m not convinced that two oboes ought not to have been added as a matter of course. Still, there’s no denying the distinctive tone color that the absence of double reeds gives the work’s overall sonority, and it would be hard to imagine a more sympathetic performance than this one (never mind Parrott and his scratchy strings). I look forward to further releases in this (so far) very rewarding edition. [5/6/2009]
