BaL 9.02.19 - Beethoven: Piano Concerto no 5 in E flat "Emperor"

[HighlandDougie]

Does the Mytek Brooklyn take Blu Ray from the Oppo? My Manhattan I doesn't, which is one reason that I bought the Bryston DAC 3, which taskes DSD and everything else from the Oppo over HDMI.
btw, the Serkin/Bernstein Emperor was a downer, but the accompanying Choral Fantasy was a hoot, with over the top involvement by Conductor and Soloist. I am wondering if they were recorded at the same sessions and they were more interested in the oddball Choral Fantasy and dashed off the warhorse Emperor as quickly as they could

Yes - no problem, or so it seems. Using USB, not HDMI* I’m sure that it’s all tweakable, somehow. I just have to find the time to play around with it. And I, for one, would be happy to hear a HIPP-influenced performance win out.

*Long day - SPDIF, not USB, via co-axial interconnect

[Tony Halstead]

Yes - no problem, or so it seems. Using USB, not HDMI. I’m sure that it’s all tweakable, somehow. I just have to find the time to play around with it. And I, for one, would be happy to hear a HIPP-influenced performance win out.

Hear, hear, re your last observation, Highland Dougie!
it would be wonderful if Sir Nicholas were to do the right, sensible thing and award TWO recommendations: one for his top choice from the 6 listed pianists (Brautigam, Immerseel, Levin, Lubin, Schoonderwoerd and Tan) who elected to record this masterpiece on an instrument that Beethoven would have recognised; and one for his preferred version from the many arrangements played on monstrous instruments delivering a sound-world alien to what Beethoven envisaged. Also, I do sincerely hope that he doesn't keep flitting between modern and lower pitch, but keeps them separately 'compartmentalised'.

[Tony Halstead]

I'm a bit surprised to see that Malcolm Bilson seems not to have recorded it!

[Bryn]

Hear, hear, re your last observation, Highland Dougie!
it would be wonderful if Sir Nicholas were to do the right, sensible thing and award TWO recommendations: one for his top choice from the 6 listed pianists (Brautigam, Immerseel, Levin, Lubin, Schoonderwoerd and Tan) who elected to record this masterpiece on an instrument that Beethoven would have recognised; and one for his preferred version from the many arrangements played on monstrous instruments delivering a sound-world alien to what Beethoven envisaged. Also, I do sincerely hope that he doesn't keep flitting between modern and lower pitch, but keeps them separately 'compartmentalised'.

I'm with you with one important proviso. Though Brautigam has perfromed the work using a modern copy of an instrument of Beethoven's time (I have a recording of such a broadcast perfromance), for the BIS recording he used a Steinway Model B placed, without lid, in the middle of the small orchestra, as he did with the others concertos. For the 4th, by the way, he used Barry Cooper's reconstruction of alternative versions of the first and last movements found among Beethoven's papers (the alternative versions only survive for those two movements).

[Tony Halstead]

Aha! Thanks for this information, Bryn.

[Pianoman]

Robert Von Bahr has said that Brautigam is going to re-record them using one of his favoured McNultys, though when is quite another matter...

[verismissimo]

I'm a bit surprised to see that Malcolm Bilson seems not to have recorded it!

Yes, especially as Bilson recorded all the Beethoven sonatas and cello sonatas.

[Bryn]

Yes, especially as Bilson recorded all the Beethoven sonatas and cello sonatas.

The Sonatas for Piano and Cello, yes, but the Claves set of the Piano Sonatas he shared with six of his former students:

Tom Beghin, David Breitman, Ursula Dütschler, Zvi Meniker, Bart van Oort, Andrew Willis,

Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.co...#ixzz5eJn3llFY

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I agree with the idea of having two recommendations, though it’s a pity the hippites persist with their holier-than-thou attitude to their personal preferences,

[visualnickmos]

I agree with the idea of having two recommendations, though it’s a pity the hippites persist with their holier-than-thou attitude to their personal preferences,

I know. It's as if they think anything pre-HIPP (or whatever it's called) is not worth visiting. There is room for both in this world.

[Bryn]

I agree with the idea of having two recommendations, though it’s a pity the hippites persist with their holier-than-thou attitude to their personal preferences,

Methinks the laddie doth protest too much, see http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...392#post721392 , for instance. The Brautigam recording, using a Steinway Model B (sans linguee), is another I very much favour, while very much looking forward to the hearing the new recordings using the sort of instrument Beethoven wrote for. The Gieseking/Rother referred to earlier is another I am very fond of.

[jayne lee wilson]

I agree with the idea of having two recommendations, though it’s a pity the hippites persist with their holier-than-thou attitude to their personal preferences,

But who are
the Holy Hippites who persist?

I think we should be told....


Shame someone lent me the Barenboim/Klemperer LP early on. I played it and played it and.... wore out the music never mind the vinyl.
If I ever were to reach for it again it might be - Schoonderwoerd, Brautigam, Aimard/Harnoncourt, maybe Michelangeli...

[MickyD]

I recall a BBC programme way back in the 80's called 'The Emperor's New Clothes', with Roger Norrington directing a period orchestra (London Classical Players?) and Kenneth Van Barthold playing an early piano in this concerto. It would be fascinating to see it again.

[Barbirollians]

But who are
the Holy Hippites who persist?

I think we should be told....


Shame someone lent me the Barenboim/Klemperer LP early on. I played it and played it and.... wore out the music never mind the vinyl.
If I ever were to reach for it again it might be - Schoonderwoerd, Brautigam, Aimard/Harnoncourt, maybe Michelangeli...

The Barenboim/Klemperer was the record that converted me to classical music in my teens - my LP wore out my cassette unravelled but my CDs play on . The music has never worn out and nor has the performance - whenever I play it it is like meeting a dear friend after a time apart .

It has and I hope will always be one of my desert island discs.

[visualnickmos]

The Barenboim/Klemperer was the record that converted me to classical music in my teens - my LP wore out my cassette unravelled but my CDs play on . The music has never worn out and nor has the performance - whenever I play it it is like meeting a dear friend after a time apart .

It has and I hope will always be one of my desert island discs.

I feel the same - not only about this recording, but many, many...... one never tires of time spent with old friends.