This fifth volume in Simax's Beethoven series follows the already well-set pattern of presenting the composer in a more intimate, closely focused setting than usual. Indeed, the opening tutti of the Third Piano Concerto initially takes one aback by the forward balance of the woodwind, with the strings less prominent than usual.

The dry but helpful acoustic suggests a relatively small venue such as Beethoven might have expected. Not that there is any lack of bloom on the sound, and pianissimi are all the more striking in contrast with the sharp impact of fortissimi. So at the start of the Triple Concerto the extreme hush of the opening quickly expands in a sunburst crescendo, reminding one that this is in its way as original as the hushed opening of the Fourth Piano Concerto.

All this pays tribute to the conductor, Thomas Dausgaard, and the soloists match him well, with Boris Berezovsky in the Third Piano Concerto also drawing on a very wide dynamic range. Despite the relatively small scale, he opts for Beethoven's last and longest cadenza in the first movement, weightily done but with the most delicate half-tones in the development of second subject material. Following the pattern of the series, outer movements are on the fast side, with influences from period performance practice; yet the slow movements in both concertos are taken at very measured speeds, with Berezovsky allowing himself ample expressive freedom in agogic hesitations. The finale of the Piano Concerto sparkles with joy, thanks in fair measure to the pianist's exceptionally clean articulation, with passage-work perfectly even.

In the Triple Concerto the violinist, Urban Svensson, with rather edgy tone as recorded may not be a perfect match, and Berezovsky rather than the cellist, Mats Rondin, is very much the leader of the team. But the clarity of texture on every level makes for an exceptionally fresh reading, which has one marvelling anew at the originality of what was until recently an unfairly neglected work. No other disc with this coupling is currently listed in the catalogue.