This is the fifth and final volume of a remarkable series. American pianist Jonathan Biss (the son of renowned violinist Miriam Fried, and current Artistic Director of the Marlboro Music Festival) is highly regarded for his Beethoven. His recording of the complete sonatas is the equal of any today. Biss seems to understand every aspect of the composer, including the playful, humorous side – something that does not always emerge in Germanic readings (although Kempff had it). 

This series consists of five CDs, each containing one of the five main Beethoven piano concertos, and each coupled with a 21st-century concerto written as a companion to the Beethoven. Biss commissioned five works for this task: Sally Beamish’s City Stanzas with No. 1; Timo Andres’ The Blind Bannister with No. 2; Caroline Shaw’s Watermark with No. 3; Salvatore Sciarrino’s Il Songo di Stradella with No. 4; and Brett Dean’s Gneixendorpha Musik eine Winterreise with No. 5. (God forbid they should simply call their piece a piano concerto!)