Ferdinand Ries: Piano Concerto no. 4 in C minor, Op. 115 / Piano Concerto no. 5 in D major, op. 120, "Concerto Pastoral"

Ferdinand Ries

(28 November 1784 [baptised] – 13 January 1838)

was a German composer. Ries was a friend, pupil and secretary of Ludwig van Beethoven.

 Piano Concerto no. 4 in C minor, Op. 115  

“Ferdinand Ries was a fine pianist and prolific composer, leaving nearly 180 works, including piano concertos, symphonies, operas, oratorios, chamber music and solo piano pieces.

The fourteen works for piano and orchestra of Ferdinand Ries stand alongside those of Hummel as the most important of their kind from the early decades of the 19th Century.

As one of Beethoven's closest associates, his views on the composer - collated in a book he published with Franz Wegeler in 1838 - are hugely reliable, indeed invaluable.”

 Piano Concerto no. 5 in D major, op. 120, "Concerto Pastoral"  

“The grand opening tutti of the D Major Concerto Pastoral could be by Beethoven; there are even a few brief melodic hints of Beethoven’s “Pastoral” and Ninth symphonies , but as soon as the piano enters, the romantic keyboard style takes over.

Ries includes solo horn passages in both the second and third movements, the first of which functions as a link between the movements. These solos—in reality they are horn calls—employ the type of yodelling motives that are an important element of the pastoral style.
The lovely second movement Andantino is also remarkable for its orchestration: Ries omits the violins and instead employs a seductive, dark-hued combination of solo horn, solo cello, two bassoons, divisi violas, cellos and basses.

Like all Ries’s concerto finales, this movement exhibits an intriguing mix of brilliant virtuoso display, delicate lyricism and gruff, powerful orchestral outbursts.”