Although the coupling of piano music by Haydn and Beethoven is relatively common, the combination of two sonatas for piano solo and a concerto for piano and orchestra is quite uncommon, even highly unusual. Yet here it is -- two late sonatas by Haydn plus an early concerto by Beethoven -- and the amazing thing is that it succeeds and succeeds so well. Most of the praise belongs to Croatian-born but Austrian-raised pianist
Dejan Lazic. A brilliantly virtuosic but entirely self-effacing player,
Lazic concentrates his attention, and with it, the listener's, on the music itself. Both composers' music is well served by
Lazic's dedicated playing -- Haydn's C major and E flat major sonatas sound warm, witty, and supremely elegant, while Beethoven's B flat major Concerto, usually the least charming and most insipid of his works for piano and orchestra, sounds bright, joyful, and sublimely graceful -- but the effect of the combination is revelatory. In
Lazic's hands, late Haydn seems far more overtly virtuosic and early Beethoven sounds far more directly appealing, and together they sound inexplicably greater than the sum of their parts. A lesser but still important portion of the praise belongs to
Heribert Beissel and the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn, which furnishes
Lazic with a clear, clean, and accommodating accompaniment in the Beethoven concerto. Channel Grande's digital sound is deep and detailed.