This second concert in WASO’s journey through Beethoven’s five piano concertos with soloist Lukáš Vondráček opens with the Egmont overture before presenting concertos Nos. 2 and 4.

In doing so, it provides not only an opportunity to compare Beethoven as talented imitator and as original creator, but also to hear Vondráček, conductor Asher Fisch and WASO bridging the two extremes as recreative artists in their own right.

Beethoven: The Master. Lukáš Vondráček and WASO. Photo © Rebecca Mansell

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major Op. 19 (premiered 1795) is actually his first piano concerto and the result of his assiduous study of Mozart’s concertos and his desire to showcase his considerable virtuosity to a Viennese audience.

By contrast, his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major Op. 58, written some 10 years later, is most notable for its extraordinary innovation, introspection and artfully deployed nobility of expression.

Following a rousing performance by Fisch and WASO of the composer’s overture to Goethe’s verse drama Egmont, Vondráček takes the stage to much applause for a different kind of drama, one imbued with wit,...