Gifted with a vast talent and supported by a powerful global marketing operation, the young Polish-Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki has now been catapulted into the ranks of the global piano stars. He was 15 when Deutsche Grammophon had him sign an exclusive contract; at 24, standing in for a poorly Murray Perahia, he played Beethoven's five Concertos at the head of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields for a European tour in eight different cities. There are in fact three stand-in pianists for Perahia, given he is prone to recurrent health problems. Nelson Freire, Rudolf Buchbinder and Jan Lisiecki who performed the five concertos, conducting from his keyboard, on the 2, 4 and 6 December 2018 in the Berlin Konzerthaus.
This complete recording was a part of the commemorations of Beethoven's 250th birthday, which is seeing recordings rain down in a monsoon that shows no signs of stopping until Spring 2020. It will not, however, form a part of the monumental box set that Deutsche Grammophon is getting ready to release, and which will cover all the yellow label's previous recordings, in particular those which were made for the 1970 bicentenary.
This new album, which adds to the hundreds of other versions, has the merit of youth, and gives a sort of overview of contemporary musical interpretations, of Beethoven in particular, at the start of the 21st Century. It presents a clean bill of health for classical music, and showcases the extraordinary quality of contemporary musicians: so there is much to celebrate. Lisiecki's Beethoven is not only joyful but also radiant, intelligent, agile, and extremely lucid. © François Hudry/Qobuz