Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4

Performances of Beethoven's piano concertos on "authentic" instruments depend heavily on the tonal qualities of the fortepiano. One reason Beethoven sounds so terrific on a modern piano is that he imagined his music for as large an instrument as he could get his hands on--and as long as the performer scales his tone to the capacity of his piano, a piece will work. But choose an instrument with too puny a sound, and the result doesn't bear listening to. Jos van Immerseel has selected for these performances a fortepiano with a lovely, full tone that preserves the clarity we've come to expect from period instruments, but which isn't dwarfed by the music. His sparkling playing completes a totally successful release. --David Hurwitz