Album
Jan Bartoš, Petr Popelka
Beethoven, Reicha: Piano Concertos
Catalogue Number: SU 4359-2
Published: 7th November 2025
Genre: Orchestral
Format: 1 CD
Beethoven, Reicha – Piano Concertos / Bartoš, Wiener Symphoniker, PRSO, Popelka
Anton Reicha (1770–1836) – Piano Concerto in E flat major, Op. 77, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) – Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73, ‘Emperor’
Jan Bartoš – piano, Wiener Symphoniker, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Petr Popelka
Just like the well-known drama of Beethoven’s life, the biography of Anton Reicha would also make an exciting film, but this recording mainly shows us the friendship of the two great composers at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. They were born the same year, and from their first encounter as 15-year-olds in the Bonn court orchestra, they became close friends. They studied together at the university in Bonn, and they both became friends of Haydn. Their music also shared similarities mainly during Reicha’s period in Vienna. It was while Reicha was in Vienna that he wrote his only piano concerto and that Beethoven wrote his fifth and most famous work in the genre. Both concertos are in the “heroic” key of E flat major. While Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto” is a mainstay of the piano literature, this is the first complete recording of Reicha’s concerto. Missing pages from the solo part were first discovered in 2018. Jan Bartoš is a highly acclaimed interpreter of Beethoven, and here he is following in the tradition of his teachers Ivan Moravec and Alfred Brendel. The wonderful playing of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, which has Beethoven’s blood in its veins, gives the live recording from the Prague Spring Festival the hallmark of authenticity. Playing the meticulously detailed accompaniment in the studio recording of Reicha’s concerto is the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Bartoš’s partner at the helm of both orchestras is Petr Popelka, today undisputedly a world-class conductor who has the rare ability to breathe meaning and life into every note. The friends Beethoven and Reicha are symbolically reunited after more than two centuries on a single album in special musical company.
A famous Beethoven work and a Reicha premiere in the hands of exceptional performers
Anton Reicha (1770–1836) – Piano Concerto in E flat major, Op. 77, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) – Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73, ‘Emperor’
Jan Bartoš – piano, Wiener Symphoniker, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Petr Popelka
Just like the well-known drama of Beethoven’s life, the biography of Anton Reicha would also make an exciting film, but this recording mainly shows us the friendship of the two great composers at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. They were born the same year, and from their first encounter as 15-year-olds in the Bonn court orchestra, they became close friends. They studied together at the university in Bonn, and they both became friends of Haydn. Their music also shared similarities mainly during Reicha’s period in Vienna. It was while Reicha was in Vienna that he wrote his only piano concerto and that Beethoven wrote his fifth and most famous work in the genre. Both concertos are in the “heroic” key of E flat major. While Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto” is a mainstay of the piano literature, this is the first complete recording of Reicha’s concerto. Missing pages from the solo part were first discovered in 2018. Jan Bartoš is a highly acclaimed interpreter of Beethoven, and here he is following in the tradition of his teachers Ivan Moravec and Alfred Brendel. The wonderful playing of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, which has Beethoven’s blood in its veins, gives the live recording from the Prague Spring Festival the hallmark of authenticity. Playing the meticulously detailed accompaniment in the studio recording of Reicha’s concerto is the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Bartoš’s partner at the helm of both orchestras is Petr Popelka, today undisputedly a world-class conductor who has the rare ability to breathe meaning and life into every note. The friends Beethoven and Reicha are symbolically reunited after more than two centuries on a single album in special musical company.
A famous Beethoven work and a Reicha premiere in the hands of exceptional performers
Reviews
“Das Prager Radio-Sinfonieorchester und der anschlagsvirtuose wie expressiv redselige Bartoš servieren diesen bekömmlichen Leckerbissen von einem Klavierkonzert in schwebender Leichtigkeit und einer Rasanz… Reichas Klavierkonzert ist ohne Übertreibung ein Meisterstück der Wiener Klassik, von den Ausführenden appetitanregend angerichtet… Den Wiener Symphonikern in Bestform tut die Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem neuen Chef Petr Popelka… Beethovens Klavierkonzert mit dem zupackenden und auch trotz aller muskulösen Attitüde wunderbar eleganten Jan Bartoš ist live noch einmal eine intensivere Sache. Wie hier Orchester und Solist im Laufe des Konzerts bis zu dem rasenden Allegro ma non troppo spontan noch eins drauflegen, sich gegenseitig immer wieder befeuern und wirklich alle Lichter im Beethoven‘schen Himmel entzünden, ist ein Spektakel, das sich niemand entgehen lassen sollte. Ein Juwel der Schallplattengeschichte ohne Wenn und Aber.”
Online Merker, November 2025
“The Emperor is given a splendidly robust performance… The Vienna Symphony, taking over from the commendable Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, are attentively conducted again by Petr Popelka. Two moments in particular caught my attention: the transition bars between the end of the second movement leading into the finale have never sounded more persuasively as the coda to the Adagio rather than the introduction of the Rondo theme; and, unlike many more distinguished orchestras and conductors on record, the band's tutti entry coinciding with the pianist's final flourish is absolutely spot on.”
Gramophone, January 2026
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Anton Reicha
Piano Concerto in E flat major
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| 1. | I. Allegro | 11:02 | |
| 2. | II. Adagio | 06:44 | |
| 3. | III. Rondeau. Allegro | 05:20 | |
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 “Emperor”
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| 4. | I. Allegro | 19:56 | |
| 5. | II. Adagio un poco mosso | 07:31 | |
| 6. | III. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo | 09:57 | |