Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte
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Gosh! Many thanks - and welcome to the Forum, A Robyn.
It's a smashing performance, isn't it - the pianist is wonderful (no wonder Joseph Cooper took to her); less so the orchestra - a couple of extra tuning sessions (for the woodwinds - especially the bassoons - in particular) wouldn't have been wasted before the First Movement. But excellent tempi and balance ensured by the conductor - this would have been terrific to hear in a concert (without the rather restricted recorded sound), and I feel very fortunate to have learnt the work from this work - and very grateful to have heard it again.
It's a smashing performance, isn't it - the pianist is wonderful (no wonder Joseph Cooper took to her); less so the orchestra - a couple of extra tuning sessions (for the woodwinds - especially the bassoons - in particular) wouldn't have been wasted before the First Movement. But excellent tempi and balance ensured by the conductor - this would have been terrific to hear in a concert (without the rather restricted recorded sound), and I feel very fortunate to have learnt the work from this work - and very grateful to have heard it again.
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major. Op. 73 "Emperor". Hanae Nakajinsa (piano), Nuremburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rato Tschupp. Windmill WMDI53 (57p). Available from most Tesco Stores, Martins Newsagents, Rumbelows and various supermarkets.
This remarkable record was recently reviewed for the BBC by Joseph Cooper in one of John Lade's "Building a library" programmes on Saturday mornings. It was a comparative review of all the available versions and, with a concerto so much recorded, he obviously had also to consider all the great Beethoven players of the day. He placed it top of them all (and without making any special allowance for its extremely cheap price). From the brief excerpts that one is able to give in a radio review it was obvious that the quality of the solo playing was remarkable: but I was less than convinced that the orchestral playing was as good as I might find on other records. Hearing the whole record has reinforced these impressions. The Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra plays with an excellent sense of fresh eagerness under Rato Tschupp and, in the main tuttis, with admirable vitality. The tone of the muted strings in the slow movement is agreeable, though not of the velvety quality one would expect from one of the world-class orchestras. A pity that the terribly out-of-tune woodwind playing from bar 304 of the first movement wasn't remade but that is the only serious technical blemish. (There was some slight distortion towards the end of that movement but that may have been the fault of my copy.) In general, the recording of the orchestra, if a little astringent, is admirable, with extraordinary clarity of texture, the inner and lower string lines as well as those of the woodwind—even the single bassoon after bar 320 can be heard.
So the accompaniment, with its zest (a quality not to be under-rated in a work so often played) is at least acceptable. But what I think bowled Joseph Cooper over, as a pianist himself, is the piano playing of Hanae Nakajima and here I entirely agree with him. (Miss Nakajima is a new name to me but I understand that she has given a London recital at the Wigmore Hall which brought her much critical acclaim.) Her playing can be as commanding as a concerto which we call the Emperor obviously demands; she can play with the greatest soft delicacy—in short, she responds marvellously to every mood of this wide-ranging and most demanding work. You start off with no doubt about the authority when she delivers the opening passages, not merely with a lot of loud playing but also with a style that makes you sit up and take notice. The same comment goes for the similar passage after bar 360. She is very perceptive, too, over and over again— everything is observed, yet nothing is exaggerated—as after the beautiful soft chords at the ending of the free opening, when she launches the orchestra on its tutti with a firmly rammed home f chord of E flat. I wish she would not draw out that passage from bar 158 (and when it recurs) so much; but most pianists do it, though a few to lesser extent (and to my greater pleasure).
My notes refer to the accompaniment again (and to its recording)—how strong and therefore effective is the strings' pizzicato after bar 180, giving the passage such strength of character. The whole movement, in fact, is full of marvellous piano playing, always alertly accompanied.
Rato Tschupp starts the adagio with just the right sense of forward movement, while Miss Nakajima makes a ravishing first entry and plays most sensitively throughout. Her anticipation of the finale's theme, at the end, is magical: as is her commanding playing of that theme in the finale itself. Such subtle perception, too—as from bar 380, where the piano part has a crescendo to what would ordinarily be its loudest chord but where Beethoven places a sudden P. This is perfectly realised, as are many other such things.
If you already have this concerto, or even several versions of it, I suggest that this one is still worth adding. (After all, how much could you buy at, say, the supermarket for 57p? And what you would buy for that sum won't sustain you for as long as will the pleasure of hearing such piano playing.) Should you think that a record to be bought from supermarkets will be vulgarly produced, the cover carries a well-photographed picture of a bust of Beethoven. My only comment (apart from two composers who are mentioned in the note as Lizt and Greig sic) is that nowhere on the sleeve is the soloist's name given. The Emperor Concerto is apparently played by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rato Tschupp. They play their part very well; but the "Emperor" of this occasion is surely a magnificent artist—Hanae Nakajima. T.H. [August 1973]
This remarkable record was recently reviewed for the BBC by Joseph Cooper in one of John Lade's "Building a library" programmes on Saturday mornings. It was a comparative review of all the available versions and, with a concerto so much recorded, he obviously had also to consider all the great Beethoven players of the day. He placed it top of them all (and without making any special allowance for its extremely cheap price). From the brief excerpts that one is able to give in a radio review it was obvious that the quality of the solo playing was remarkable: but I was less than convinced that the orchestral playing was as good as I might find on other records. Hearing the whole record has reinforced these impressions. The Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra plays with an excellent sense of fresh eagerness under Rato Tschupp and, in the main tuttis, with admirable vitality. The tone of the muted strings in the slow movement is agreeable, though not of the velvety quality one would expect from one of the world-class orchestras. A pity that the terribly out-of-tune woodwind playing from bar 304 of the first movement wasn't remade but that is the only serious technical blemish. (There was some slight distortion towards the end of that movement but that may have been the fault of my copy.) In general, the recording of the orchestra, if a little astringent, is admirable, with extraordinary clarity of texture, the inner and lower string lines as well as those of the woodwind—even the single bassoon after bar 320 can be heard.
So the accompaniment, with its zest (a quality not to be under-rated in a work so often played) is at least acceptable. But what I think bowled Joseph Cooper over, as a pianist himself, is the piano playing of Hanae Nakajima and here I entirely agree with him. (Miss Nakajima is a new name to me but I understand that she has given a London recital at the Wigmore Hall which brought her much critical acclaim.) Her playing can be as commanding as a concerto which we call the Emperor obviously demands; she can play with the greatest soft delicacy—in short, she responds marvellously to every mood of this wide-ranging and most demanding work. You start off with no doubt about the authority when she delivers the opening passages, not merely with a lot of loud playing but also with a style that makes you sit up and take notice. The same comment goes for the similar passage after bar 360. She is very perceptive, too, over and over again— everything is observed, yet nothing is exaggerated—as after the beautiful soft chords at the ending of the free opening, when she launches the orchestra on its tutti with a firmly rammed home f chord of E flat. I wish she would not draw out that passage from bar 158 (and when it recurs) so much; but most pianists do it, though a few to lesser extent (and to my greater pleasure).
My notes refer to the accompaniment again (and to its recording)—how strong and therefore effective is the strings' pizzicato after bar 180, giving the passage such strength of character. The whole movement, in fact, is full of marvellous piano playing, always alertly accompanied.
Rato Tschupp starts the adagio with just the right sense of forward movement, while Miss Nakajima makes a ravishing first entry and plays most sensitively throughout. Her anticipation of the finale's theme, at the end, is magical: as is her commanding playing of that theme in the finale itself. Such subtle perception, too—as from bar 380, where the piano part has a crescendo to what would ordinarily be its loudest chord but where Beethoven places a sudden P. This is perfectly realised, as are many other such things.
If you already have this concerto, or even several versions of it, I suggest that this one is still worth adding. (After all, how much could you buy at, say, the supermarket for 57p? And what you would buy for that sum won't sustain you for as long as will the pleasure of hearing such piano playing.) Should you think that a record to be bought from supermarkets will be vulgarly produced, the cover carries a well-photographed picture of a bust of Beethoven. My only comment (apart from two composers who are mentioned in the note as Lizt and Greig sic) is that nowhere on the sleeve is the soloist's name given. The Emperor Concerto is apparently played by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rato Tschupp. They play their part very well; but the "Emperor" of this occasion is surely a magnificent artist—Hanae Nakajima. T.H. [August 1973]
(.. I wonder what perturbation in what human mind, thought that was just the picture to accompany Klemperer and Barenboim at their work?) 
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