The London Connection: Beethoven, Clementi & Cramer (Feat. Netherlands Chamber Orchestra)

Dejan Lazić has long been interested in the art of the transcription, and here his program is built around the piano concerto that Beethoven fashioned from his own Violin Concerto. Lazić gives a fine performance: Trim and punchy, it sits well under his fingers. It was created for London-based Muzio Clementi, pianist and publisher, whose imposing B-minor Sonata makes an apt companion. As does the third panel of this triptych, the Sonata written by Johann Baptiste Cramer, a musician admired by Beethoven and who also settled in London. His dramatic sonata “Le Retour à Londres” is thrillingly played here.