Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5 in Eb, Op.73 (Helmchen) 

Some of the highlights from this (asterisks for the things I especially liked): 0:56 - A tiny detail, but the two unslurred chords that everyone forgets about are actually detached from the rest of the phrase. 2:21 - Those French horns! 5:06 - Most pianists fudge this bit into a wash of Gb sound, but the line is kept clear here. 6:02* - A wonderful decrescendo (also at 14:49, this time nearly to the point of inaudibility). The tutti statement at 6:07 is strikingly textured, with the horns/trumpets more prominent than usual. 6:41* - The staccato here is rarely observed in performance, but works really well (see also the slur/staccato differentiation at 6:45). 7:06 - The decrescendo and colour change over these two long descending arpeggios. 7:25* - Another passage that’s usually turned into mush, now given a gorgeous detached/burbling texture (repeated at 16:13). 7:40 - The leggiero scales are taken with one of the cleanest semi-semi-staccatos I’ve come across. 7:55* - Clear separation/rhythmic contrast between the RH/LH chromatic scales (also 16:42). 11:13 - The taper on that octave line + the big downshift in tempo that comes right after. 12:42 - The way the horns insert themselves into that fat dominant chord, and the tempo distortion at the senza tempo right after. 13:21 - The dolce playing of the woodwinds + horn. 18:14 - There’s a slight dragging on the horns, which creates a sense of freedom/dialogue. 23:19* - Helmchen isn’t afraid to separate the texture of the climax from the rest of the movement. Note also 23:32, where the change from a staccato to a slurred staccato texture is very clear. 27:27* - You can hear the (relatively gentle) slurs of the rondo theme, the separation of different note values, as well as the dynamic contrast between the antecedent and consequent phrases (pretty tricky to pull off when you’re playing big chords at high speed). 28:31 - Beautiful articulation of the transition theme (especially the contrast between slurred and unslurred notes). 30:33* - The way the accented high chords are picked out with agogic accents/exaggerated slurs 33:16 - Hyper-exaggerated slurs here, for a really nice effect. 36:14 - Mid-value slurs this time. 36:36 - The evenness and crispness of the scale.

That second movement is something we all need to give us some hope in these times ...

Beautiful! A real Emperor amongst concertos! How great Beethoven was. He is still alive in his music.

Forgotten how much I love his piano concertos.

Thought I was tired of this piece - knew every note - wrong. An amazing performance. Instead of knowing every note I'm hearing every note.

A couple years since I first listened to this recording and I still find it fascinating that Helmchen managed to breathe new life into the piece, not by doing an unconventional interpretation, but by being hyper-attentive to all the little details in Beethoven's original score.

This is really really damn good, isn't it?

3rd movement (Rondo) was my wedding recessional 💖💖💖

Feels good to be so early for listening to this masterpiece

Another weird thing about the Emperor -- most concertos will have one or two really great moments, but this one contains around a dozen of them. My three favourites: 18:55 - Leave out the modulating build-up that starts at 18:46, and this climax actually sounds kind of pedestrian, what with its oom-pah rhythm and I-ii-V. But in context it's heart-stopping -- there's a huge sense of release, the passage sounds so generous & soaring. 30:33 - I've always found this C maj variant of the rondo theme really moving & even intimate, though it's a bit hard to say why -- some combination of the high register of the RH, the thinned-out melody + LH, & the pizzicato strings. 35:51 - It's a really simple thing, but the way the bassoon line transfers to the horn, which then floats a Bb in the middle of the texture while the piano shapes the melody above - gorgeous stuff.

21:37 most beautiful part in this piece

Can i say that i consider this one of the best pieces of music in existence?

The chordal tuttis in the very beginning is just so monumental like GO BEETHOVEN

Love this Concerto. It’s pretty cool that Beethoven took control of the whole piece to put the cadenza at the beginning. I love the 17:19 mark. It’s the third theme that belongs to the soloist.

Thank you! It's always nice to listen to a piece you've heard dozens of times before and discover things that you never noticed before.

first time I heard this concerto was 20 years ago. I've listened it hundreds of times and it never cease to amaze me.

いつもより爽やか、軽やかな演奏ですね。その為か1音1音が本当に煌めいて聞こえる。本当こんな曲だったなんて。ベートーベンは凄すぎるな。

Some of the world's most beautiful music ever written by mankind right here. Thank you for sharing this recording and analysis.

After a long I'm listening to the emperor and My God! this rendition is absolutely stunning. I think this might be my new favourite interpretation of the Emperor :)

Incredible performance of an incredible piece of music~ I love all your little time-stamp notes; lots of things I hadn't noticed

4:19 - 4:30 is so peaceful with the suddle violin harmony 😩

How on earth does one make such a stupendously perfect recording?

I absolutely love this piece

The second movement slays me every time. This is beautiful. Thanks Ashish!

The orchestra in this recording is outstanding: the horns and the timpani in particular.

Awww... the Cadenza at the beginning... Just wonderful and so beautiful..

This makes my heart feel delighted, especially the 3rd movement, since I listened to it at age 6-7.

Thank you for uploading, love it. This music was one of my childhood's favorite. You are my favorite classical piano music youtuber

Long-time listener here. Many many thanks for all you have provided over the years and going forward. I'm very truly grateful to you.

Came across this a few years back, but only truly listened to it today. You are so spot on with the texture!

Totally agree Ashish. The attention to detail allows for a very lively freshness to this work. Not over pedalled either. Lovely performance.

This performance is a REVELATION! Amazing interpretation!

Having heard this many times without the score it's a true revelation to be able to follow with it. Beethoven's genius and invention is simply incredible (as we all know). Wonderful playing too.

One of my most favorite piano concertos ever......second movement is nothing less then spectacular.....heavenly sound.....gorgeous cords......Ludwig was a genious

I just started listening to this one a couple of weeks ago, the timing couldn't have been more perfect! Thanks for the upload as always. Love reading your thoughts about the concerto.

This is an excellent recording! Thank you!

Wow I can't believe how incredibly well articulated every bar of this performance is - it's as if they went through ever phrase and decided precisely how it would be intoned, and then cut it live in one shot, perfectly.

Not even ten seconds in and I was completely taken aback by how stellar this recording is. Everything about it is just so... amazing!

The 2nd movement is really wonderful

This concerto is so mesmerising :}

His rondo theme is insane. Such a massive sound. I especially love how he plays the descending chromatic thirds

This recording made this piece 10x better in my head.

Incredibly beautiful.

Bravo! I am in awe! Zimmerman and Barenboim are the masters of the Emperor in my opinion, but this is very close!

I’ve always thought of this concerto as the closest piece to the definition of ‘brillante’ in music. Every single movement is, in its own way, joyful, classy and, i’d say, ‘optimistic’.

18:05 - 18:21 - Brilliant piano accompaniment on the return of the French horns.

Thank you so much for this post. Went to Amazon and bought Helmchen's LVB Concertos 1,2,4 and 5. So far, stunning. Your posts are outstanding. While I am not an idiot about "classical" music and I can't speak with the musical authority many show here, I do understand what it is being said. I love the opinions expressed and I love the paths I am led down.

I love the beginning where measure bars are dispensed with. Never noticed that before; makes so much musical sense.

Best Beethoven piano concerto in my opinion

Thank you so much for your channel. This is how I unwind.

I am ashamed and at the same time proud to say that this is one of my first of my very few interactions with Beethoven Piano Concertos in all my years learning and listening to classical music. These concertos seem to attract quite a lot of attention, but in the times that I’ve tried to appreciate them, they felt really hard to parse - however, this here is really damn beautiful. Can’t say I completely appreciate it yet especially on my first listen, but I’m glad to say it’s a start. Thanks.

I've been waiting my WHOLE life for the Emperor to be posted and here I am!!! Thank you so much Ashish!!!

25:43 Love that bar. Such a strange mood. Not sad, not happy, but definitely beautiful.

Until this moment, on this rather fine day, I prized Zimerman and Bernstein's recording with the VPO as the finest 3, 4, 5 of B.'s piano concertos, but this has swayed me. This is indeed the pinnacle of the emperor.

The best piano concert, I love it

I’ve been listening to this concerto since I was 16. I’m in my 40’s now and it still is my most beloved musical composition. Every time I listen to it I find something new that amazes me. And your descriptions truly helped this endeavor of constant discovery with the Emperor, that transition from a B to B flat, the handover of the melody from a bassoon to a horn, the many notes that you don’t even know are there but that enrich this composition and somehow ground the triumphant with lovely tenderness all throughout. Oh, I have no words. So thank you for this post, for your enlightening commentary, and for this phenomenal recording that, as someone else put it in another comment, is simply playing what’s already there to our delight. So thank you!

Music to make angels tarry to listen to in silence: so love this piece I wish it could be the last I hear before I pass on.

Best tone for this piece achieved.

Outstanding performance.

really fantastic recording! Gonna have to go get it now to add to my collection.

You made it through, Ashish! Congratulations!

I'm not sure anyone but those who really understand this piece sees the towering piano genius and technique application. Huzza!

I've always loved 17:47 It reminds me of a music box

Never heard of the pianist, but he sure plays amazing!

A minha número 1 de todas as eruditas,conheci em dezembro de 1980 aos 17 anos.♥️

OK, this is a "wow" from the first note!

Thanks for uploading!

The greatest of all piano concertos!

Me encanta. el concierto Nro. 4 para piano y orquesta de Beethoven.

00:00 І ч. вст. Es 01:12 І ч. ГП Es 02:07 І ч. ПП 1 т. es 02:22 І ч. ПП 2 т. Es 04:11 І ч. РБ, початок 10:25 І ч. РБ, кульмінація 12:25 І ч. РП, початок 14:57 І ч. кода 20:22 ІІ ч. ОТ H 21:40 ІІ ч. CР (монологи) 24:04 ІІ ч. РП (варіації) 27:26 ІІІ ч. ГП (рефрен) Es 28:31 ІІІ ч. ПП 1 т. Es 29:05 ІІІ ч. ПП 2 т. F 29:37 ІІІ ч. РБ, початок 35:38 ІІІ ч. кода Es

Yes! Thanks

AXK has done the Emperor Concerto! Hooray! The Emperor Concerto has one of my all-time favorite moments in Beethoven's music. If I had to pick my top 5, they would be 1. The crescendo into the beginning of the finale of the 5th Symphony, quite possibly the greatest crescendo in musical history, when the brass blazes forth with the opening of the finale; 2. This concerto. Same place--final movement transition. That change from B to B-flat, with the quiet ascending passage that anticipates the surging Rondo theme, then the piano's sudden leap into the Rondo. 3. The opening of the 9th--the "orchestra tuning up" section, then all hell breaks loose 4. Last variation in the op. 109 leading to the return of the theme 5. Similar to the Emperor, the sudden transition into the finale of the op. 81a, the Wiedersehen movement, as though Beethoven is giving a shout for joy at seeing his friend return and they're rushing to embrace. (Honorable mentions: the first appearance of the Ode to Joy theme in the 9th; the opening of the Cavatina in the op. 130 quartet; the exultant final page of the op. 110 sonata, where the fugue falls away and the theme rises to glory) The dramatic segue-into-finale seems to be a thing in Beethoven's middle period: 4th and 5th concerti; 5th symphony, Appassionata, Waldstein, and Das Lebewohl sonatas. Setting aside 40 minutes to listen to what looks like a terrific recording.

This was my dad’s favorite piano concerto. The second movement-oh I miss him!!

Os mais belos harpejos escalas e resoluções. As palhetas colorem em contraste com a exuberância orquestral. As batidas dos timpanos marcam a beleza da base orquetral. É muita emoção...

I feel like God gave us a gift when Beethoven wrote this. Beethoven is probably a gift God gave to us as well. I hope he will make it to heaven.

시대 좋아졌다 이런 멋진 음악을 집에서 유튜브로 듣고 있다니!

I think in many cases the notion that performers are supposed to strictly try and replicate "what the composer intended" is dogmatic nonsense (especially for composers like Bach who didn't tell us at all what he "intended", and probably for good reason). But, in my opinion, there are also some extremely trustworthy composers, whose instructions, followed to the letter, can reveal completely new magic. Beethoven is one such composer. Mahler too. Funnily enough, these composer's instructions seem to be ignored particularly often. I find that the most excellent Beethoven interpretations are consistently the ones that take great care to observe his markings and instructions and this one is an absolute prime example. Maybe the freshest recording of the piece I've ever heard. I'm sure Beethoven would love this interpretation. Other pianists who take this approach to Beethoven include Zimerman and Buchbinder, also two of my favorites.

Helmchen is absolutely fantastic. His recording of the Vingt Regards is my one of my favorites.

03:37 already this piece has me crying due to its beauty.

Holy fuck who is this guy? recording is perfect and his skills, touch, and interpretation is just amazing

this is my favourite piano concerto.

TYVM!! Saw Garrick Ohlsson play this with the SF ~14YA. Was great, very powerful... for a Chopin interpreter. : - )

Thank you so much for this recording and rendition! This is truly remarkable, and I would say even better than Zimerman's!

Wow - thanks for directing me to his performance of what is not only imho the greatest of all piano concertos, but one of the greatest things every written period. It is absolute perfection of genius from start to finish. This is indeed an amazing performance. Might I also suggest the performance by Leif Ove Andnes (pianist AND conductor I believe) with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. It is more expansive, and just as amazing. It is a tossup for me which of these two I like better.

27:25 When Howard Hamlin's car keys got sabotaged.

the best😍

Beethoven would laugh his ass off at all this detailed discussion and hair splitting about this performer and that interpretation. He created where others recreate and analyse recordings!

Sheer and tremendous beauty from simplicity. B's fifth concerto, 'Emperor' is quite easy to play(both pianoforte and orchestra, in technical point of view)but this expresses majestic sound and feeling as Brahms' 2 concertos. This is absolute MASTERPIECE. After listening to this piece, you will know why this is called as 'Emperor'.

Tambi én me agrada mucho el Concierto Nro. 5 "Emperador" para piano y orquesta de Beethoven. Es mi favorito con toda su música , las nueve sinfonías, opera Fidelio, sus obras para piano y orquesta, para violin y orquesta. Me vuelo con sus hermosas melodías. Esta es música.

I find it an absolute masterpiece the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd movement

I really like the way the 2-against-3 rhythm is played in the second theme - never heard it so clearly, and it reminds me a bit of that gorgeous but slightly bizarre 4-against-3 section in the 13th string quartet, if you know what I mean.

Bravo

Do more premiers in the future! It's a great community reaction and comment on the music!

Hope you upload the five Beethoven piano concertos!

Saw him perform this live!

This is Cosmos, UNIVERSE including all Stares Moon and Sun.

This is so pretty

Intro of 2nd movement 😍😍😍😍

Some composers beg interpretive licence but if you want "beethoven" just play what's there. This recording proves it.

actually my favorite is zimerman's but this one is fantastic too!