Page 306 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 Garrick Ohlsson (piano), Grand Teton Music Festival
Orchestra/Sir Donald Runnicles (Reference Recordings)

This set would be an artistic treat had it been captured onto a couple of C90
cassettes with a boombox. Instead, Garrick Ohlsson’s Beethoven concerto cycle was
taped over a week in July 2022 in Walk Festival Hall, a medium-sized wooden venue
in a small Wyoming village, Sir Donald Runnicles conducting a festival orchestra
drawing its members from elite ensembles in the US and Europe. There’s an
interesting booklet essay from producer Vic Muenzer outlining exactly how the
recordings were made (the gist of which seems to be: find a good hall and use
decent microphones, strategically positioned), and the results are impressive even
by this label’s high standards. There’s a palpable bloom and warmth to the sound,
Ohlsson’s deft rhythmic sense ensuring that things never feel complacent. Take the

effervescent finale to the first concerto, the interplay between orchestral winds and
soloist perfectly judged. Concerto No. 2 is another treat, with ear-tickling string
playing in the introduction, Runnicles showing us Beethoven’s debt to Mozart while
hinting at where he’d end up as a mature composer – some of the harmonic gear
changes still sound startling.

Concerto No. 3 is a very different beast, Runnicles and Ohlsson relishing the first movement’s
grandeur without sacrificing the wit. It’s difficult not to smile at Ohlsson’s playing at the start of the
development section, or at the way Runnicles gets his flute, oboe and bassoon soloists to sing
out over the piano line. The “Largo” is rapt and contemplative, the finale’s rondo theme a winning
blend of perkiness and severity. Concerto No. 4’s quietly radical first movement is exquisite here,
the orchestral textures full of light and colour after No. 3’s glowering C minor. Runnicles makes