The second recorded instalment of pianist Jonathan Biss' Beethoven/5 project is now avaialble on Orchid Classics. The album pairs Beethoven’s C Major Concerto with Sally Beamish's Piano Concerto No.3 'City Stanzas', recorded live with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Omer Meir Wellber.
Biss comments: "Sally and I first met to talk about this commission in 2015; neither of us could have predicted the path the work would take from that moment of inception to its premiere two years later. Inspired by the boundless energy and optimism of Beethoven’s concerto, whose structure and motives she plays with and makes her own, Sally first envisioned a celebratory piece – one that takes joy in the human capacity for invention. As 2016 unfolded, gripped by pessimism and anxiety about the future, the piece took a far darker turn, using the same materials but looking at them through a destructive, even nihilistic lens. Beethoven’s concerto and Sally’s City Stanzas, taken together, capture the full range of humanity’s capabilities.“
City Stanzas was commissioned by Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, with support from theSwedish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic. It received its world premiere with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Mischa Santora on Inauguration Day – January 20th, 2017 – at Ordway Hall, St Paul, Minnesota.
