Wilms: The Piano Concertos, Vol. 1

Interpretation ******      Sound *****      Repertoire ******

**** Excellent Album

“… Ronald Brautigam performs the first three (of five surviving) piano concertos… each of these works is a satisfying self-contained listening experience in itself… None of this music is going to challenge Mozart and Beethoven but all of it, and the C major in particular, is worth revisiting, especially in such committed and sympathetic performances as these.”

“… These works are located somewhere between Haydn and Beethoven. Willens lets his orchestra play the fast movements with much musicality and lightness, exquisitely fine in the slow parts. Willens also cares for color, making the music very lively and pleasing, even without particularly fast tempos. That is a characteristic of these three interpretations. Brautigam and Willens are certainly more concerned with charm and grace than with effective power and superficial brilliance…” ****

Performance ****½      Sonics (Multichannel) ***½

“…we must welcome Vol. 1 of the full set of Johan Wilms’s 5 piano concerti for its joyful and refreshing playing by all concerned. I particularly liked number three. It fills an unjustified missing gap in the SACD catalogue. In Horst A. Scholz’s liner notes one finds more and more detailed information about the first three concerti than anywhere else readily available. Wonderful reading.”