Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 0, 2 & 6

Beethoven wrote more than the five piano concertos most often performed: he wrote one in E flat major at the age of 14 in 1784, and he also made sketches for a No. 6, probably around 1814-15. Sophie-Mayuko Vetter records both these works, alongside the more familiar No. 2, with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter Ruzicka. For "No. 0", Vetter plays a period fortepiano. The fragmentary No. 6, reconstructed by Nicholas Cook and Hermann Dechant, has never been recorded before.

Featuring

Sophie-Mayuko Vetter
Peter Ruzicka
Hamburger Symphoniker
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Composition History

The 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 6 in D Major' on this album is a completion of Beethoven's fragment by musicologists Nicholas Cook and Hermann Dechant, and this recording is its world premiere.

Composition History

Beethoven's 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 0 in E-flat Major, WoO 4' is his earliest piano concerto, composed when he was only 13 or 14 years old in 1784.

Composition History

Beethoven's five piano concertos are not numbered chronologically; the work designated as his 'second' was actually composed before the 'first'.

Composition History

Beethoven's 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in B-flat Major' was the work he occupied himself with for the longest period, with sketches dating back to 1786 and revisions continuing until its publication in 1801.

Composition History

Beethoven's 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 6 in D Major' was an unfinished project from 1814-1815, which he abandoned despite having 70 pages of sketches and a 256-bar score autograph.

Composer Biography

Beethoven's progressing deafness prevented him from performing the solo part of his Fifth Piano Concerto in public, yet he attempted another piano concerto five years later.

Instruments

The 'Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 0 in E-flat Major, WoO 4' on this recording is performed on a 1806 Broadwood fortepiano, an instrument with original mechanics from Beethoven's era.