Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Piano Concerto no. 2 in B flat major, Op.19

Jakub Hrůša conducts a magnificent Shostakovich 11 and, just after the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a work by one of the many Jewish musicians who perished there.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin brings surprising intimacy to Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, which contrasts his Romantic approach to Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto.

Karina Canellakis brings her Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to the Musikverein, joined by Emanuel Ax in Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

A concert of two halves: the Philharmonia and Dame Mitsuko Uchida light up Beethoven with the essence of Classical style, but the orchestra struggles in Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite. 

Early Beethoven doesn't convince, but Karina Canellakis’s rendering of Shostakovich 8 pulls no punches: raw, frightening, even chastening

Prefacing the Beethoven concertos, Julia Adolphe's world premiere proposed a beautifully orchestrated soundscape sounding in turn menacing and eerie.

An enjoyable first live stream of the 2021 edition of the Martha Argerich Festival in Hamburg's Laeiszhalle.

The Dutch conductor returns to his old orchestra for a concert stream of Beethoven, with Nicholas Angelich, and Tchaikovsky. 

Purity and clarity are hallmarks of Zimerman’s playing and there was an almost aristocratic composure to his phrasing in these splendid performances. 

The extraordinary Italian pianist Beatrice Rana and the Philharmonia Zürich orchestra under Fabio Luisi lit up the stage in an unforgettable performance. 

Emanuel Ax plays Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto and works by Di Castri and Lutosławski round out the program.

Daniil Trifonov's radiant reading of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and two impressive works by Lili Boulanger and Louise Farrenc, as Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Lang Lang joins Jaap van Zweden and the HK Phil for an all-Beethoven concert in Hong Hong, kicking off the composer’s 250th festivities in style.

The highly decorated Austrian pianist, Rudolph Buchbinder, launched the Lucerne Piano Festival by playing and conducting the complete cycle of Beethoven’s five piano concertos.

Yuja Wang joins Jaap van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic for Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

Imogen Cooper joined the Sydney Symphony for a performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. 

Soon to be seventy, Murray Perahia and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields give full expression to the life force that is Beethoven, in their continuing cycle of the piano concertos.

Pianist Kit Armstrong proved that prodigious talent and good taste can be found in the same artist, while Christian Thielemann disappoints in Strauss’ blockbusting Alpine Symphony.

Christoph von Dohnányi conducted the CSO in a pair of Mozart symphonies along with a Beethoven piano concerto, the latter with Martin Helmchen in an impressive CSO debut.

Gardner and the Philharmonia immerse themselves in the complex emotional journey of Elgar's Second Symphony, whilst the brilliant Martin Helmchen excels in an illuminating performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto.

BIPO hosted Rudolf Buchbinder for a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos, spread out over two nights.

Sometimes the small details make all the difference. They certainly did in this rendition by the CBSO and Steven Osborne under the baton of Andrew Manze that won you over with an unpretentious and all the more captivating performance.

In this Nordic year, a rediscovery of Wilhelm Stenhammar's First Symphony is a fascinating benchmark. Meanwhile, Steven Osborne completes the Beethoven Piano concerto cycle in a thoughtful performance.

Three concertos and a symphony; three soloists and an ever-expanding chamber orchestra; the SCO in Stravinsky, Mozart and Beethoven.

This concert, given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Cristian Măcelaru, was a great start to the new year! 

Much-loved favourites wrapped around an assured early Beethoven piano concerto with Elisabeth Leonskaja.

Emanuel Ax launches into a cycle of Beethoven piano concertos in Sydney with classical elegance and wit. 

Maria João Pires plays Beethoven Piano Concerto No.2 with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Adám Fischer. Haydn and Mozart top up a Viennese evening.

In his introduction to the programme, the orchestra’s Music Director Marios Papadopoulos says that it is the energy in Beethoven’s music which captures his attention, and this was certainly conveyed in the Oxford Philomusica’s performance of the piece.

It was only through a litany of roster changes that the Orchestra Mozart’s London debut at the Royal Festival Hall took place at all. Beginning with Claudio Abbado and Martha Argerich down to play Haydn and Mozart, a dual cancellation meant Bernard Haitink and Maria João Pires had to step in at what may as well have been the last minute.

There are (at least) two moments in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 2 where the music extends the language taken from Haydn and Mozart and reaches out into new worlds. Both were handled to great effect by tonight’s soloist, Christian Ihle Hadland.

There are new forces at the helm at the Oslo Philharmonic. After last season’s final concert of Mahler’s Second Symphony, the farewell of the orchestra’s longtime chief conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, this season’s opener was the inaugural concert of the new chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko. Expectations have been high, especially after some very successful concerts this spring.

The London Symphony Orchestra presented the themes of the first movement of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto very nicely indeed, benefiting from the clarity, moderation and wisdom with which a lifetime of experience has endowed their conductor for this concert.

Finland’s Einojuhani Rautavaara is no stranger to the SCO, who premièred his Autumn Gardens in 1999; nor to this concert’s conductor, fellow Finn John Storgårds, who recorded a disc of his works earlier this year. Although not a world première, this was a UK first performance of his Into the Heart of Light for string orchestra.

The last concert in Rotterdam Philharmonic’s “Russian Fall” series centered around one of the most monumental Russian symphonies ever written: Shostakovich’s Fourth. But the evening opened with something completely different: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 2.