Beethoven: 5 concertos pour piano Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine & Jean-François Heisser

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15:
• 1 Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: I. Allegro con brio 18:36
• 2 Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: II. Largo 09:45
• 3 Concerto pour piano No. 1 en Ut Majeur, Op. 15: III. Rondo. Allegro scherzando 09:03
• Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19:
• 4 Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: I. Allegro con brio 14:29
• 5 Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: II. Adagio 09:02
• 6 Concerto pour piano No. 2 en Si-Bémol Majeur, Op. 19: III. Rondo. Molto allegro 06:17
• Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37:
• 7 Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: I. Allegro con brio 17:14
• 8 Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: II. Largo 09:59
• 9 Concerto pour piano No. 3 en Ut Mineur, Op. 37: III. Rondo. Allegro 09:45
• Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58:
• 10 Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: I. Allegro moderato 19:57
• 11 Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: II. Andante con moto 05:18
• 12 Concerto pour piano No. 4 en Sol Majeur, Op. 58: III. Rondo. Vivace 10:29
• Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »:
• 13 Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: I. Allegro 20:28
• 14 Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: II. Adagio un poco moto 07:10
• 15 Concerto pour piano No. 5 en Mi-Bémol Majeur, Op. 73 « l’Empereur »: III. Rondo. Allegro, ma non troppo 10:46
• Total Runtime 02:58:18

Info for Beethoven: 5 concertos pour piano

The interpretation of the five concertos presented by Jean-François Heisser and his chamber orchestra offers an insight into the evolution of Beethoven’s style during the decisive ten years or so over which he composed them, on the cusp of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In short, it demonstrates how the improvisatory virtuoso pianist of the first two concertos, conceived at the very end of the eighteenth century in the tradition of Mozart and Haydn asserted his credentials as a composer in his own right with the Third Concerto in the first years of the nineteenth century, before reaching a summit with the surprises of his last two works in the genre.

The highly original and innovative conception of this set derives from the individual vision of Jean-François Heisser, in intimate rapport with his orchestra, who has chosen to record the complete concertos on modern instruments but with a historically informed approach, that is to say, keeping as closely as possible to the sources. They have therefore used the authentic scores with Beethoven’s own performance and expression marks (eschewing the later revisions of these by nineteenth-century publishers) and have researched the characteristics and possibilities of the instruments that would have been used for the first performances of the concertos between 1796 and 1809, more especially the piano, the technical characteristics of which developed continuously at the time, stimulated to a large extent by Beethoven’s demands. …

L’Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Jean-Francois Heisser, piano, direction

Jean-François Heisser
is an all-around artist, leading a versatile career as a pianist, conductor and teacher, fueled by vast cultural knowledge and tireless intellectual curiosity. Born in Saint-Etienne, he is the disciple and heir of Vlado Perlemuter, Henriette Puig-Roget and Maria Curcio. He was professor at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur deMusique from 1991 till 2016. Among his best students wereare? Bertrand Chamayou and Jean-Frédéric Neuburger, with whom he has developed a relationship of close musical affinity. He now balances his career as a soloist, as a conductor, artistic director of various institutions and major musical productions, with his activities as Music Director of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Chamber Orchestra.

Since 2001, he has been in charge of developing the Nouvelle Aquitaine Chamber Orchestra project, firmly establishing the orchestra as one of the finest French chamber ensembles, as reflected in its recordings on the Mirare label: the orchestra’s rendering of the first version of de Falla’s El Amor Brujo as well as of Berg’s Kammerkonzerte were both widely acclaimed by the musical press, and are now praised as reference recordings of these works. A recording of the complete Beethoven Concertos conducted from the piano was released in 2017.

As a soloist, he has played with renowned conductors such as Janowski, Tilson Thomas, Segerstam, Krivine, Mehta, Plasson, Roth etc., with, among others, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Orchestre National de France or Les Siècles… He frequently performs in recitals, with a preference for Beethoven (Sonatas, Diabelli Variations etc.), Brahms, Chopin, the Spanish repertoire (Albéniz, de Falla, Granados, Mompou) and, naturally, the works of great French composers of the past and present. Alongside his performances of great concertos and major works of the piano repertoire, he is also an eager proponent of 20th century works and contemporary creation: the Turangalilâ-Symphonie and Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux Étoiles, under the direction of Mehta, Janowski or Segerstam; Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke, Mantra and Kontakte; or the world first performance, among others, of Gilbert Amy and Nguyen Thien Dao’s Piano Concertos, along with three major works by Philippe Manoury: La Ville, Veränderungen pour piano seul and Terra Ignota for piano and 22 musicians. His uncompromising approach to interpretation leads him to perform regularly on period pianos (Weber: The Four Sonatas – Praga Records -, Konzertstück – on Mirare-). Under the direction of François-Xavier Roth and his orchestra “Les Siècles”, he also alternates between modern pianos (the three Bartok concertos) and period instruments (Saint-Saëns and Brahms).

As a chamber musician, Jean-François Heisser has, needless to say, covered a large extent of repertoire with musical partners such as the Ysaye, Lindsay and Pražák Quartets, and his recording of the Bartok sonatas with Peter Csaba (on Praga) is now regarded as an essential reference. He has also emerged as a leading advocate of the four-hands piano repertoire and of works for two pianos, notably with G.Pludermacher, M.J Jude and J.F Neuburger, and has also written daring and magnificent transcriptions for two pianos of works such as The Rite of Spring or the Symphonie Fantastique (recording with Marie-Josèphe Jude – Harmonia Mundi released in January 2019).

His extensive discography boasts over 40 recordings: after his highly acclaimed recording of the piano works of Paul Dukas (awarded the Diapason d’or de l’année prize), he embarked on a collaboration with Erato Records (a 6-CD boxed set dedicated to the Spanish repertoire of Schumann, Brahms, Saint-Saëns, Debussy, etc.), then with Naïve Records (Beethoven, Brahms) and Praga Records (Weber, Berg, Manoury, Bartok…). His recording activities are currently centred on recordings with the Nouvelle Aquitaine Chamber Orchestra for Mirare (de Falla, Wien 1925, Dubois, American Journey, Edtion of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos) and Musicales Actes Sud (Albéniz, Mompou labels). Erato/Warner also recently published a box of his famous Spanish recordings.

As an artistic director, his ongoing partnership with Editions Actes-Sud has led him to direct the musical program of the Soirées Musicales d’Arles. Since 2015, he has served as the artistic advisor of the Festival de l’Orangerie de Sceaux. And finally, continuing the work and preserving the memory of his mentor Vlado Perlemuter, “historical” performer of the great French composers, Jean-François Heisser is also the President of the Maurice Ravel International Academy, a major educational center for the training of talented young artists. Jean-François Heisser is also the president and artistic manager of the Ravel Festival in Nouvelle-Aquitaine since August 2017.

Booklet for Beethoven: 5 concertos pour piano