Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1-2

This recording – the first release of a complete cycle with the Finnish pianist and conductor Olli Mustonen, who plays two of his own cadenzas in Opus 15 – demonstrates the vitality of the piano concerto genre, which Beethoven preferred for various reasons. Synonymous with the composer, the five great individualities lie like continents in the sea of music, out of which they were catapulted, as it were, with volcanic force. But their geology also developed in phases of varying lengths. After Beethoven’s turbulent beginning in Bonn with the little E flat major concerto of 1784, historical developments forced a stylistic reorientation. In place of Johann Christian Bach, Mozart became his model.