Hannes Minnaar - Beethoven Piano Concertos

The Guardian 80

(Challenge Classics)

Young Dutch pianist Hannes Minnaar now has a complete set of Beethoven concerto discs to his name, and it’s a set that should make that name better known. He doesn’t seem to try overly hard to be distinctive, but he is so nonetheless, his playing always buoyant and convincingly thought-through. There is an unusually strong and fruitful sense of dialogue between him and Jan Willem de Vriend’s orchestra, who play in period-ish style – little vibrato, natural brass. In the earlier works – including No 3, the new recording that completes the set – they take a quietly energised approach; this is classical rather than revolutionary Beethoven, and yet Minnaar’s detailing confounds our expectations enough to give the performances real character. No 4 has great surges of energy, and the traditionally stately “Emperor Concerto”, No 5, is unapologetically joyful, razzy horns and all.