Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op.58 (Minnaar)

One of those recordings you just fall in love with a dozen bars in – everything about it is just so vital & joyful & expressive. Start with The Netherlands SO under de Vriend – it’s not a period orchestra by any means, but boasts some inspired HIP touches. The horns and trumpets are all valveless period instruments, and give the tuttis an exhilaratingly razzy sound – see the soaring texture at 2:00 (I swear to god, this was so unexpected the first time I heard it I actually teared up a little), and similarly 12:53 and 28:03. The timpani here, too, is a period instrument (those sharp attacks at 22:42 & 25:17!). What results is a much more textured and responsive orchestral sound than usual, with some lines that are often hidden (e.g., the horn + timpani gesture at 29:07) gaining a lot more presence. The strings also use very little if any vibrato – this trades away a bit of body in the sound, but the purity of the resulting tone creates a wonderful yearning quality in many passages (4:33; 16:36; 23:35; 29:34) and makes for some nice dialogues with the piano (the cello at 22:22 & 22:35).

Minnaar’s playing here is extraordinary, equal parts tender and brilliant – he’s just at home in sparkling triplet runs and brilliant trills (4:17; 22:25), coyly dissonant passages (4:43), the sfumato outlines of the development (7:36), and the jagged shapes in the cadenza (13:53 – he plays B.’s second cadenza, which is more fun than the commonly played first, what with those notes dancing around the trills at the end). The articulation in many passages (3:16; 5:38; 23:50; 26:02) is wonderfully (and subtly) handled, and at particularly climactic points Minnar also lets some rubato assert itself (10:00). One real highlight of the performance is the second movement, where the orchestra is considerably more clipped and brutal than you’ll usually hear, and Minnaar responds with heartbreakingly tender pianissimos (19:30 and similar).

Видео Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4 in G, Op.58 (Minnaar) канала Ashish Xiangyi Kumar