![]() Murray Perahia pf Concertgebouw Orchestra / Bernard Haitink And here you sense that she is among those truly great artists who, in Charles Rosen’s words, appear to do so little and end by doing everything (his focus on Lipatti, Clara Haskil and Solomon). In her own memorable ‘artist’s note’ she speaks of that knife-edge poise between creator and recreator, of what must finally be resolved into a ‘primal simplicity’. Maria João Pires pf Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Daniel HardingĮven with a never-ending stream of Beethoven piano concerto recordings, whether from established masters (Kempff, Arrau, Gilels, etc) or work in progress (Andsnes and Sudbin), few performances come within distance of Pires’s Classical/Romantic perspective. In the finale, Bronfman and the Tonhalle provide a clear, shapely aural picture. The sensation of shared listening, between Bronfman and the players and between the players themselves, is at its most acute in the First Concerto’s Largo, which although kept on a fairly tight rein is extremely supple (the woodwinds in particular excel). True, there are moments of grandeur but the overall impression is of a poised, at times chamber-like traversal, with sculpted pianism and crisply pointed orchestral support. This Zurich performance of the First Concerto is beautifully articulated. Yefim Bronfman pf Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich / David Zinmanīrilliant Classics (originally Arte Nova) Read the full reviews in the Reviews Database: Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3 That’s in part down to the performers and in part surely the recording, in that most eloquent of spaces, the Prague Rudolfinum. The Mahler CO wind are predictably characterful in their variations on the theme that prefigures the ‘Ode to Joy’ and the chorus are fervent without sounding too butch. Robert Levin may be matchless in conveying the rhetoric of the extended piano opening but Andsnes manages to be lithe and spontaneous-sounding, and doesn’t overplay hints of melodrama – dangerously tempting with all those diminished sevenths scattered about. I was made more than usually aware of its original context – as the finale of the famously epic concert that also saw the premieres of, among others, the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Fourth Concerto suddenly I noticed connections between the Fantasy and the Fourth that previously passed me by. It’s a rare treat to have the Choral Fantasy as a juicy extra to the concertos. Review of Vol 3: To have arrived so soon at the end of this journey seems almost a pity, for the company has been most engaging, by turns profound and delightful. ![]() Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Leif Ove Andsnes pf 'The Beethoven Journey' (Piano Concertos Nos 1-5. So may I say at once that Harmonia Mundi’s eagerly awaited set is a superlative achievement and that Lewis’s partnership with Jirí Belohlávek is an ideal match of musical feeling, vigour and refinement. With this three-disc album of Beethoven’s piano concertos Paul Lewis complements his earlier set of the 32 sonatas and also his appearances at the Proms this summer where for the first time all five concertos will be played by a single artist. Paul Lewis pf BBC Symphony Orchestra / Jiří Bělohlávek Read the full review in the Reviews Database It does not seek to banish all conventional wisdom about the pieces, but it has asked a lot of questions about them, as interpreters should, and I warm to it not only for the boldness of its answers but for finding so many of the right questions to ask. But they could be called idiosyncratic – from Harnoncourt would you have expected anything less? – and to the extent that the set gives a shock to received ideas it is challenging. Theirs are not eccentric readings of these old warhorses – far from it. You do not have to listen far to be swept up by its spirit of renewal and discovery, and in Pierre-Laurent Aimard as soloist Nikolaus Harnoncourt has made an inspired choice. Pierre-Laurent Aimard pf Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Nikolaus Harnoncourt The 50 best Johannes Brahms albums Orchestral Piano Concertos Nos 1-5.The 50 best Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart recordings. ![]()
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