Beethoven Concerto 5 Emperor

Beethoven’s piano concertos occupy a special place in the output of this master of both piano and orchestra. They are among the most telling examples of the composer’s stylistic evolution — in the concerto form as well as in his pianistic and symphonic writing. With Concertos Nos.4 and 5 Beethoven transports the genre of the concerto into the realm of the theatre (his benefit concerts, for example) and large halls. This had its limitations, however. When in 1824 Beethoven asked his pupil Carl Czerny to play the Fifth Concerto in the Großer Redoutensaal in Vienna,Czerny categorically refused, out of respect for his teacher’s composition and because of the hall’s specific problems: ‘And now I am supposed to play … at the Großer Redoutensaal which is the most unfavourable venue for this instrument, and all pianists who have played there so far have regretted it.’ The Großer Redoutensaal was one of the largest halls in Vienna at that time, corresponding most closely to the dimensions of a modern concert hall.

Maestro's Emil Gilels two radio broadcast performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Orchestre national de France, conducted by Antal Doráti and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, conducted by Arpad Gerecz in Lausanne.