BaL 04.01.25 - Beethoven: Piano concerto 1

[Ein Heldenleben]

Must say I’ve never thought of the C major as the Cinderella Concerto.

Yea that baffled me. It’s a tremendous work. There are really no Cinderella Beethoven works are there ?

[silvestrione]

Must say I’ve never thought of the C major as the Cinderella Concerto.

Nor me! Was it Joanna's perspective as a teacher of young pianists? She mentioned how they tended not to choose it for competitions, fearing it would not give them enough opportunity to showcase their talents. ('So much for them!', one wants to say)

[Barbirollians]

I should have thought Beethoven 2 was more the Cinderella.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I should have thought Beethoven 2 was more the Cinderella.

Maybe - but it has the Prince of Beethoven cadenzas - a masterpiece in its own right.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Nor me! Was it Joanna's perspective as a teacher of young pianists? She mentioned how they tended not to choose it for competitions, fearing it would not give them enough opportunity to showcase their talents. ('So much for them!', one wants to say)

She’s got a point. You can play a masterly Beethoven 1 and then along comes a barnstorming flashy Rach 2 and it counts for nothing. Another reason why competitions are a waste of musical time.

[jch48]

These are 2 of my favourite bars in all of music - piano scales near the end of the slow movement

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C, Op.15 (Brendel) - YouTube

[silvestrione]

These are 2 of my favourite bars in all of music - piano scales near the end of the slow movement

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1 in C, Op.15 (Brendel) - YouTube

Yes: and the duet with the clarinet here is one of the most wonderful things in music, I think.

[Barbirollians]

Yes: and the duet with the clarinet here is one of the most wonderful things in music, I think.

And Argerich is particularly wonderful in conversation with the woodwind here . Her performance with the Manchester Camerata at the Manchester Piano Festival some years back was extraordinarily beautiful.

[Nick Armstrong]

These are 2 of my favourite bars in all of music - piano scales near the end of the slow movement

As illustrated marvellously in the programme in the Radu Lupu performance

Interesting BAL as far as it went - JMcG is always illuminating but AMcG got on my nerves with the usual time-wasting. I confess to being rather glad that the Argerich stranglehold on works she chose to perform seems to have been lifted these days; and very glad JMcG went for Gilels again, his Beethoven has always had an extra ‘something’ for me….

[Lawrence]

I'm beginning to wonder whether, in an age of streaming, with possibly the end of CDs in sight, BaL is approaching obsolescence. Do millennials still have shelves of stuff?

Yes I do. I have thousands of CDs but am fast running out of storage space! Now in my 84th year I have no desire to embark upon streaming.

[Barbirollians]

It’s not that Argerich should have a stranglehold on a BAL Nick - albeit I think she is marvellous in it , it is the fact they mentioned few women had recorded it and only illustrated Uchida and ignored Argerich altogether .

[richardfinegold]

I should have thought Beethoven 2 was more the Cinderella.

Exactly