Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, 'Emperor' /Piano Sonata No. 28 in A

This is the stuff from which magic is made: Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73--known as the "Emperor" Concerto, heroic and powerful--performed by one of our most distinctive pianists, Hélène Grimaud. The excellent Staatskapelle Dresden is led by one of today's young stars on the podium, Vladimir Jurowski, a charismatic musical genius who was recently appointed London Philharmonic Orchestra's principal conductor. The chemistry between these musicians has the potential to create an extraordinary musical experience. On this album, the Concerto is coupled with a piano sonata out of Beethoven's late compositional phase where--noticeable in the slow movement of the concerto as well--the composer's concern for lyricism had deepened. Thus intimacy and delicacy are the features in the beautiful Piano Sonata No. 28, Op. 101 chosen by Grimaud. This project proves the modernity of Beethoven, firstly by the passionate interpretation of Grimaud and secondly by her being such an excellent communicator of her intentions and perceptions: "What makes Beethoven an extremely modern composer is this extreme vitality, the desire to never give up, and also this foreverendearing, extremely touching characteristic of the music to always strive to ascend, to really get beyond the frailties and the failures of the human condition by always looking up and trying to reconcile the top and the bottom, the vertical and the horizontal. That is still the struggle of people today--this is what makes Beethoven so timeless."