Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos 3 & 4 Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano); Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse/Tugan Sokhiev Warner Classics 5419726309 72:44 mins
One of the last surviving Russian-born pianists in the line of Richter and Gilels, Elisabeth Leonskaja has lately been recording solo and chamber music – so this new concerto album is welcome. While never making an ugly sound, her playing is weighty and forceful.
She voices Beethoven’s writing with total clarity and a natural sense of phrasing. Yet the Third Concerto’s humour and drama is underplayed: its first movement’s architecture is secure, but tempos verge on the deliberate: the central Andante con moto feels as if it will never move beyond its opening chord, the flute/bassoon exchanges too strung out at this speed. The last movement is perfectly articulated, but its potential cheekiness doesn’t spring to life until the final pages.
In No. 4, poised and rounded, there’s wisdom in her care in the opening exchanges, and her off-beat sforzandos later in that movement are impeccable. Her control is evident in the final notes of the central Largo, the dissonant F sharp perfectly resolved onto E, and the finale races away with clear accents and vivid contrasts, well-matched by Tugan Sokhiev and his Toulouse orchestra.
Nicholas Kenyon