ベートーヴェン: ピアノ協奏曲全集

注目を集めるドイツ出身のピアニストが弾き振りしたベートーヴェンのピアノ協奏曲全集

1960年ドイツ生まれのピアニスト、アレクサンダー・ロンクヴィッヒが指揮も行い、ベートーヴェンのピアノ協奏曲第1番から第5番を録音した最新アルバムがECMよりリリースされます。ミュンヘン室内管弦楽団と共演しています。CD3枚組。マンフレート・アイヒャーによるプロデュースです。

アレクサンダー・ロンクヴィッヒのソリスト&指揮者としての演奏は世界中のメディアや聴衆から高く評価されています。ミュンヘン室内管弦楽団の他、カメラータ・ザルツブルク、マーラー室内管弦楽団、バーゼル室内管弦楽団、ドイツ・カンマーフィルハーモニー・ブレーメン、シュトゥットガルト室内管弦楽団などと定期的に共演し、また室内楽にも熱心に取り組んでいます。ECMには2002年にアルバム『Odradek』でデビューし、その後フランスの作曲家を取り上げた『Plainte Calme』、シューマンとハインツ・ホリガーの曲をフィーチャーしたCD、さらにヴァイオリニストのカロリン・ヴィトマンと共演したシューベルトのCDをリリースしています。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Beethoven is not really the beat of the experimentally minded ECM label, but one can see what attracted them to this performance by pianist Alexander Lonquich with the Munchener Kammerorchester. For one thing, the space was unusual -- an old city hall auditorium, the Rathaus Landhut outside Munich -- and just about as ideally suited to this interpretation as could be imagined. For another, these are unusual Beethoven concerto performances. The ensemble is a true chamber orchestra, with 12 violins, four each of violas and cellos, and pairs of the other instruments, and likely not far from orchestras Beethoven knew. And Lonquich, conducting from the keyboard and furnishing his own cadenzas, has rethought these pieces thoroughly. He offers his ideas on the music in an informative note; the physical version is recommended for those with the wherewithal. Lonquich locates the inspiration for Beethovens concerto language in Mozarts piano concertos, pointing out that the big Mozart concertos, like the Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503, were quite young when Beethoven wrote his first works. And Lonquich applies this idea not only to the first three early concertos, but to the later Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, and Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor"), which are quite delicately played. This puts some emphasis on the slow movements of these works, which are particularly eerie and mysterious (and this is true of the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, as well); there is no stomping giant in the Fourth concerto. Lonquichs handling of the orchestra is quite careful and detailed; hear the beautiful treatment of the winds in the first big modulations of the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 4. You have to wonder how Lonquich is going to give the "Emperor" sufficient heft given the generally restrained nature of his playing: listeners will have to decide for themselves whether he pulls it off. But this is doubtless a fresh reading of Beethovens well-worn concertos, beautifully recorded. A note to radio programmers: in many tracks, the music takes several seconds to begin. ~ James Manheim