Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 & Triple Concerto (Bonus Track Version)

Released in time for the conductor’s 90th birthday, here’s a treasurable memento of Bernard Haitink’s close rapport with the LSO. They’ve already given us an impressive symphony cycle, and now the same qualities of classy musicianship and Haitink’s winningly ego-free approach make for very satisfying listening. In the Piano Concerto No. 2, Pires articulates the solo line with great clarity and considerable poetry (above all in the Adagio). In the Triple Concerto, Lars Vogt, alongside two LSO principals, offers a similar combination of sense and fantasy, the music sparkling when required. A dramatic performance of the seldom-heard Leonore Overture No. 2 completes a Beethovenian feast.