Beethoven / Lachner

PIANO CONCERTOS NO. 2 & 5

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L.VAN BEETHOVEN / V. LACHNER: PIANO CONCERTOS NO. 2 & 5 (arrangement for piano and string quintet)

Hanna Shybayeva, piano
Animato Quartet
Bas Vliegenthart, double bass

Label: Naxos Music Group
Catalogue no.: 8.551452
Release date: December 3d, 2021
Barcode EAN: 73009914523
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This is the third recording of Beethoven’s Piano concertos in Vinzenz Lachner’s chamber music version by pianist Hanna Shybayeva. With the here presented Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 a complete recording of Beethoven’s altogether five piano concertos in this instrumentation is now available for the first time.

Chamber Music Arrangements of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos:

It is a well-known fact that a large number of Mozart’s piano concertos (apart from arrangements by Johann Nepomuk Hummel) were arranged by Ignaz Lachner for piano and string quartet (some with an additional double bass). Ignaz Lachner was four years older than his brother Vinzenz, whose arrangements are presented here.
The Lachner family with their three children Franz Paul (1803-1890), Ignaz (1807-1895) and Vinzenz (1811-1893) was a family of prolific musicians whose original works have so far been widely ignored. However, it makes you wonder why composers set about reducing the orchestral scores of concertos to a much smaller instrumentation for string ensembles. To answer this question it is essential to have a look at the time in which such arrangements were created: the Biedermeier period, the music of which is usually referred to as the early classical era. Apart from the opera as a genre very important to the bourgeoisie, the piano gained popularity in bourgeois households as the main instrument. As it was impossible to perform orchestral works in the comparably small rooms of their homes but people nevertheless wanted to listen to the great musical masterpieces, piano concertos were increasingly arranged for chamber music ensembles.
Chamber music arrangements with piano became the major field of activity for arranger-composers and ensured a wider distribution of the famous works.
The chamber music arrangements of Beethoven’s piano concertos presented here are owed to the commitment of the German pianist and pedagogue Sigmund Lebert (1821-1884). He intended to provide his students with editions that were playable and performable. Therefore, he wrote arrangements for works by Mozart and initiated – together with Hans Bülow – the famous Cotta edition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano sonatas which was published in 1881. In the same year Lebert started to co-operate with the composer Vinzenz Lachner to arrange Beethoven’s piano concertos for chamber music instrumentation. “L. v. Beethoven’s piano concertos for one piano as well as for accompaniment by a second piano, a string quintet (or orchestra) to be used for study purposes and concert hall”, it says on the first printed edition from 1881, “Arranged by Sigmund Lebert in co-operation with Vinzenz Lachner”. It is indeed a kind of student’s edition in so far as it includes the solo part in the original version but also an arranged version that is indicated by the notes being smaller. Also the fact that students are free to choose whether they want to play these concertos with the accompaniment of a second piano or a string quintet (or an orchestra) indicates that this edition is supposed to be used by students. No less a man than Liszt was commissioned to arrange the orchestral part for the second piano. In his arrangement, however, Liszt allocated an essential role to the soloist as regards the orchestral sound: in Liszt’s brilliant arrangement the first piano is not only supposed to play the solo part but is also included in the orchestra’s tutti. Vinzenz Lachner’s contribution is the arrangement of the orchestral parts for string quintet (two violins, viola, violoncello and double bass). Regarding the overall sound the soloist can choose whether the piano – apart from the solo – should also take over some of the orchestra’s tutti passages. However, it is advisable to follow Liszt’s arrangement in this edition whenever this is deemed necessary. The fact that the chamber music versions by Lachner and Lebert have so far not been available as recordings might be due to the fact that most pianists considered these arrangements to be inferior to the orchestral versions. The only exception is Piano Concerto No.4 whose chamber music version is the only one that has meanwhile been included in the standard repertoire of numerous artists, although the arrangements of the other concertos are also very good. On the other hand, we have to keep in mind that Beethoven himself also arranged orchestral works for chamber music ensembles in order to make his compositions better known. This applies, for example, to the Second Symphony the composer himself had arranged for piano trio and which Hanna Shybayeva presented in the second volume together with the piano concertos. Another important aspect is that the piano concertos lose none of their fascination in their chamber music arrangements.


text: Carsten Dürer

English translation: Dorothee Kau

Ludwig van Beethoven

PIANO CONCERTO No.1/SYMPHONY No.2

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STUDIO KONZERT LIVE VINYL

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SYMPHONIC INTIMACY

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JAPAN ECHOES

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Ludwig van Beethoven

PIANO CONCERTOS No.3 & 4

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SOUNDS OF WAR

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SHOSTAKOVICH, CHOPIN, RAVEL, PROKOFIEV

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SILENT ECHOES

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Tango for Yvar

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RACHMANINOFF ETUDES-TABLEAUX

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PLAYING WITH AUTISM 1.0

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RACHMANINOFF COMPLETE

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LET'S DANCE! LIVE RECORDING

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SCHUBERT

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UNCONDITIONAL MUSIC

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CHOPIN, SCARLATTI, RACHMANINOFF, DEBUSSY, KLEIN

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