Krystian Zimerman – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major, Op. 73: II. Adagio un poco moto

Krystian Zimerman joined forces with Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra in December 2020 in Beethoven’s five piano concertos. Their spellbinding performances harvested a bumper crop of critical superlatives. Here was “history in the making”, wrote The Times in its five-star review, while Bachtrack noted, “Purity and clarity are hallmarks of Zimerman’s playing and there was an almost aristocratic composure to his phrasing and a velvet touch … Everything was meticulous, not … a quaver out of place.” Tracing a path from Classicism to Romanticism, the five works are masterpieces of a genre revolutionised by Beethoven. It was as a virtuoso pianist that he first made his name and he premiered all but the Fifth Concerto himself – his deafness was so serious by then that he no longer felt confident about performing in public. Krystian Zimerman – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major, Op. 73: II. Adagio un poco moto Listen to ’Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos’: h