Our Summer BAL 41 : Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5 in E Flat Major

[Bryn]

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ning-blog-2020
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Feel free to add anything LvB related to the blog...

Good old set-to here....scroll on from #2447....
http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...leases/page245

Doesn't the 'set to' start here? Though it could be said to have been seeded here.

[silvestrione]

Claudio Arrau's recording with Colin Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden was much lauded at the time (1986), but hardly seems to be mentioned at all now. As I recall, it might have been the first digital recording the concerto, and the first to be released on CD.

Richard Osborne's review in the Gramophone was highly complimentary:

This is an exception account of the Emperor Piano Concerto, one which strikes me as being profoundly and sensitively attuned to the work in all its aspects. As we might well expect of a performance of this concerto by Claudio Arrau, the heroic spirit as conceived by Beethoven is revealed to be both physically robust and spiritually refined. Gloriously accompanied by Sir Colin Davis and the Staatskapelle, Dresden, the performance communicates a sense of what I can only call serene exultancy.

Its still a special performance for me, although obviously not HIPP at all. Of course, when it was released CDs were still following the same timings as LPs, so it was released on its own in what would now seem remarkably short measure for a CD (no doubt Currentzis would approve).

As an aside, Arrau was due to perform the same concerto with Davis and the LSO at the Barbican a few months later, but cancelled. He was replaced by Bruno Leonardo Gelber; a very good substitute. His recordings of the concerto (on HMV and later on Denon) are also both very fine.

Colin Davis revealed somewhere that he was much disappointed that what he thought was a fruitful musical partnership between him and Arrau was nipped in the bud because Arrau had of course discovered that Davis hummed while conducting, and Arrau found it too distracting! I wonder if that has anything to do with that cancellation.

I see that that Beethoven 'Emperor' is in my Davis box, so I'll have a listen later. Richard Osborne is of course an Arrau admirer, often mentions him...and why not after all...

[Belgrove]

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ning-blog-2020
...scroll down....
Feel free to add anything LvB related to the blog...

Good old set-to here....scroll on from #2447....
http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...leases/page245

Thank you Jayne, very helpful.

[edashtav]

I remain firmly attached to Fleisher / Szell / Cleveland Orchestra, which, to my astonishment, was recorded almost 60 years ago. I see it garnered admirers when this thread started 5 years ago. Yes, it's a big-boned performance, Szell sees to that, but if he provides the martinet's drive and forward propulsion, Fleisher expands the dynamic range with some delicious pp playing, phrasing that's imaginative and apt, and both men complement each other in a satisfying manner.

I've enjoyed more recent encounters with HIP influenced interpretations but none has convinced me to invest neither have they tarnished the enjoyment and satisfaction I gain when I return to the Maestri in Severance Hall.

[silvestrione]

Yes, the Davis/Arrau performance is a great one, I think. The Staatskapelle Dresden, with a conductor they did a lot of Beethoven with, and with their distinctive Beethoven 'sound' with its long history, have grandeur and dignity as well as poetry, and Arrau is not concerned to use the power of his modern instrument so much as to shadow that orchestral splendour and eloquence with moments of finesse and nuance and inwardness. What a great work it is! I marvelled at the development section of the last movement Rondo, where the soloist comes back again and again, elaborating the main theme with poetic thoughts. Amongst much more.

[richardfinegold]

Yes, the Davis/Arrau performance is a great one, I think. The Staatskapelle Dresden, with a conductor they did a lot of Beethoven with, and with their distinctive Beethoven 'sound' with its long history, have grandeur and dignity as well as poetry, and Arrau is not concerned to use the power of his modern instrument so much as to shadow that orchestral splendour and eloquence with moments of finesse and nuance and inwardness. What a great work it is! I marvelled at the development section of the last movement Rondo, where the soloist comes back again and again, elaborating the main theme with poetic thoughts. Amongst much more.

I haven’t heard that, but I do like the Arrau/Haitink/Concertgebouw. It seems to be only available as a download; I have as part of a big Arrau/Beethoven box

[jayne lee wilson]

Just started on Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado.... need to hear the 2nd again but may post comments on this and their Emperor on my Beethoven blog....Very different from Wallisch!

[gurnemanz]

This woken up again...? New Kids on the block now....

Wallisch/Haselbock, Hough/Lintu and Brautigam/Willens all "best of the best" from my POV....

Should really get around to Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado...

Thanks for the nudge. I listened via Spoty to Emperor from Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado and Brautigam/Willens and by far preferred the latter. A detailed interpretive analysis being beyond my job description, I simply report that I was won over by beautiful playing and the vivid sound picture BIS have produced. I have Brautigam's Beethoven Sonata set on CD, also BIS, and am very tempted to acquire the Concertos as well.

[Bryn]

Thanks for the nudge. I listened via Spoty to Emperor from Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado and Brautigam/Willens and by far preferred the latter. A detailed interpretive analysis being beyond my job description, I simply report that I was won over by beautiful playing and the vivid sound picture BIS have produced. I have Brautigam's Beethoven Sonata set on CD, also BIS, and am very tempted to acquire the Concertos as well.

I appreciate that, like me and several others here, you tend to prefer the employment of instruments available at the time of composition but with a grounding in HIPP, Brautigam brought considerable insight to his earlier set using a lidless Steinway with the small orchestra gathered round him. He also included Opera 61a and 80.. In Op.58 he follows Jonathan Del Mar's edition of Beethoven's revisions for the first and last movements (any made by Beethoven for the celebrated 'slow' movement have not made it down to us). I would not want to be without access to both surveys.

[BBMmk2]

Just started on Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado.... need to hear the 2nd again but may post comments on this and their Emperor on my Beethoven blog....Very different from Wallisch!

Looks like I’ll have to hear this!

[Bryn]

Looks like I’ll have to hear this!

Be ready for some pretty wayward 'rubato' with lots of brief fermate in the opening movement, followed by a 'slow' movement with but a marginal move towards Beethoven's alla breve tempo marking. It might be better to start with streaming in case you find it other than to your taste. That said, I retain a distinct soft spot for Glenn Gould's far, far more wayward recording with Stokowski. Not what Beethoven wrote but wonderful music-making, regardless.

[Barbirollians]

I feel as if I am talking to the void but I am very impressed by the first four concertos recorded by Helmchen/Manze 1,2,4&5 . Low on vibrato high on poetry.

[jayne lee wilson]

I feel as if I am talking to the void but I am very impressed by the first four concertos recorded by Helmchen/Manze 1,2,4&5 . Low on vibrato high on poetry.

I just posted on Bezuidenhout/Heras-Casado in No.2 on my Beethoven listening blog..... I noted & already put the Helmchen/Manze recordings in Qobuz faves (feel free to add anything beyond No.5 here...http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ning-blog-2020), but I fear my personal Beethoven Wave of Enthusiasm may be approaching the shore....

Anyway, my sympathies Barbs.... I feel the same about the Wallisch/Haselbock cycle, to which I seem to be the only witness here.......but 2020 is producing an LvB embarrass de richesses....

[HighlandDougie]

I feel as if I am talking to the void but I am very impressed by the first four concertos recorded by Helmchen/Manze 1,2,4&5 . Low on vibrato high on poetry.

As was Dublin Jimbo in mid-April, which led me to stream the 1st/4th courtesy of Tidal, about which I also posted enthusiastically. The most enjoyable modern instrument performances I’d heard in ages, to which I’ve been returning often. When postal deliveries settle down here in France, I’ll order the CDs.

[richardfinegold]

I’ve been reading the interesting discussions about the newer sets but I haven’t had the time or inclination to investigate. I had done some binge Beethoven listening not to long ago and need to recharge my enthusiasm before delving back in (although I have been listening to Pollini’s last recording of the 3 final Sonatas). I do appreciate the discussion, however