Piano Concertos Opus 3, 14 and 49

Description

In 1801, Jan Ladislav Dussek wrote his first concerto in a minor key, significantly contemporary with Beethoven's first two, and suddenly departed from the gallant shores, the sunny mood bathed in references to his dear Mozart that had prevailed until then. He finally executed, with a certain delay, the stylistic and grammatical revolution he had long been conducting in his keyboard sonatas. The work is wonderful in its invention and fantasy; it does not shy away in its Allegro espressivo from the pure pleasure of virtuosic playing that could be signed by Weber, but adds everywhere expressive nuances that will culminate in the Adagio, a true bel canto air for piano, while the Finale unfolds a rondo full of spirit. Andreas Staier and his friends from Concerto Köln offered a drastic, almost modernist interpretation while using period instruments, whereas Howard Shelley, who seems to be pursuing a complete recording of the Concertos step by step, places it back in its time, finding the exact balance between Mozart and Beethoven, and plays it with a variety of accents and colors that do justice to this opus where a new style emerges. The two absolutely Mozartian Concertos that accompany it are delightful in themselves, pastoral and tender music, subtly composed, where the orchestra is a landscape that the soloist traverses with brilliant passages and poetic asides. But it is the Concerto in G minor that you will return to, with the nocturnal romance of its Adagio and the romantic fantasy of its Rondo, to which the musicians of the Ulster Orchestra bring that charming sylvan flavor (Discophilia - Artalinna.com). (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)