Beethoven: Triple Concerto CD review – levity and wit from a dream team

Beethoven’s Triple is a concerto that effectively has a piano trio as its soloist. Cellist Sol Gabetta, violinist Giuliano Carmignola and pianist Dejan Lazić are here something of a dream team: characterful, distinctive and focused on the same thing. They can be dynamic and crisply propulsive together, but this performance has a lightness of touch that in the finale spills over into playfulness and wit. Gabetta leads off each time, her flowing phrases setting a compelling precedent for the others. Conductor Giovanni Antonini draws out a huge, irresistible crescendo into the first big orchestral entry; it sounds like a statement of intent, and what follows from the Kammerorchester Basel is as arresting as it is mercurial. The concerto is sandwiched by ebullient performances of three overtures: The Creatures of Prometheus, Egmont and Coriolan. None is the subtlest you’ll hear, but all are hugely enjoyable.