Following his solo CD awarded the Pasticcio Prize by the ORF, the young Austrian pianist Stefan Stroissnig now presents a recording of piano concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven.

In conjunction with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna conducted by Heinrich Schiff, he performs the more rarely heard, but no less weighty Piano Concertos No.2 in B flat major op.19 and No. 4 in G major op.58. The dates of composition of these two works are only just a decade apart, but in terms of essence and effect they are of very different characters. In its classical structure and the treatment of the piano and orchestra parts, the Second Piano Concerto is still strongly influenced by Mozart and probably also Haydn, whereas the Fourth Piano Concerto must be viewed as one of the key works making Beethoven the forerunner of the Age of Romanticism.

The Austrian pianist Stefan Stroissnig, born in 1985, studied with Oleg Maisenberg in his native city of Vienna and with Ian Jones at the Royal College of Music in London, and received further artistic inspiration from renowned pianists such as Daniel Barenboim and Dmitri Bashkirov. His concert activity as a soloist has taken him to all the continents and to the most important concert houses in Europe, such as the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Vienna Musikverein, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Berlin Philharmonie.