Krystian Zimerman - Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos (3CDs)

The 64-year-old Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman released Beethoven’s 3CD album “Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos”. Includes Beethoven's piano movements 1 to 5.

When the great Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman recorded all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos for the first time in Vienna in 1989, he encountered some less-than-ideal technical problems: “They had covered the walls of the Musikverein with carpets, which completely ruined the acoustics of the pianos.” In addition, another unfortunate thing happened - Leonard Bernstein, who was conducting the album and leading the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, died during the recording. But Zimerman did not give up on album production. Instead, he played the piano and conducted the First and Second Piano Concerto himself. Now, fast forward more than 30 years later, on the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Zimerman has the opportunity to record the five concertos again. "I spoke to Rattle, the music director of the London Symphony Orchestra, and told him that I had to record these songs again," the pianist recalled. "He immediately said yes and suggested that I work with the London Symphony Orchestra. He is not only a great person, but also a good friend of mine. Basically, no matter what ideas I have, he welcomes them!" However, with the outbreak of the epidemic, quarantine policies began to be implemented in various places: in November 2020, in order to use the piano nearby while complying with social distancing regulations, Zimerman had to sleep in a camper for several weeks, "feeling like a Boy Scout!" During the recording process, members of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) had to remain dispersed in their base, a church called "LSO St Luke's", "making it difficult to make the various instrument sections sound like one, with a unified tone." Although this posed a great challenge, Zimerman also said it was a "great experience." “It feels like chamber music on a larger scale,” he says, “making this music available to everyone.” For this album, Zimerman was concerned with what these pieces would have sounded like in the early 19th century. To better capture the musical atmosphere of the time, he prepared four special keyboards for the recording: they can be plugged into the Steinway grand piano in St Luke's Church to ensure that each piano can suit the unique playing techniques required by the concerto and the sound details that Zimerman believes Beethoven would want to present. Below, the pianist takes us on his personal journey through these five Beethoven classics.