DG: 4777475

From a DG perspective, we could have declared 2007 the Beethoven year as many of our stars dedicated their talents to the composer’s works. Mikhail Pletnev’s Beethoven project even stretches into 2008 with this recording of the Fifth Piano Concerto, Emperor

With this release – once again with his Russian National Orchestra under Christian Gansch – Pletnev accomplishes his marathon undertaking of recording each of Beethoven’s five piano concertos and nine symphonies

The previous releases of the enigmatic Russian master’s Beethoven project have received the highest praise: “I genuinely wondered if even five stars weren’t insulting to playing of such glorious, playful penetration” wrote the reviewer in BBC Music Magazine while the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung wrote of Pletnev’s playing: “in terms of sheer pianism there seem to be no limits.”

“There’s life and surprise in every bar” wrote The Times of Pletnev’s Beethoven. It’s a statement that sums-up his approach to the music: “The most important thing for me is that the music must have an immediate emotional effect on people, not only as a masterpiece from the past. Every phrase, every moment of joy should be lived as it’s lived in our real lives,” he explains

This release of the Emperor Concerto promises to be the event for all lovers of piano repertoire and of Beethoven’s works