Our Summer BAL 86: Beethoven Piano Concerto No1

[Barbirollians]

If Beethoven had not written 3,4, & 5 I suspect this work would still be regarded as a masterpiece. I find it such a joyful work to listen to together with its lovely Largo and the interplay with the woodwind particularly the clarinets .

It does not seem to have been a BAL in my memory for a very long time - indeed 4 and 5 only made recent reappearances after a long break . I have lots of splendid recordings - starting with Perahia and Haitink I bought as a student , Solomon, Zimerman/Rattle, Barenboim/Klemperer , Arrau . Galliera etc etc but for me Argerich is in a class of her own in this piece. She has made several recordings - only recently a live zinging performance with Ozawa but probably most of all my heart remains with her recording with Sinopoli.

What's your favourite ?

[akiralx]

Definitely Sudbin/Vanska on BIS, with the Tapiola Sinfonietta this time rather than Minnesota. Includes cracking, slightly zany, cadenzas, based on one by Friedman (i) and Sudbin's own (iii).

[richardfinegold]

If Beethoven had not written 3,4, & 5 I suspect this work would still be regarded as a masterpiece. I find it such a joyful work to listen to together with its lovely Largo and the interplay with the woodwind particularly the clarinets .

It does not seem to have been a BAL in my memory for a very long time - indeed 4 and 5 only made recent reappearances after a long break . I have lots of splendid recordings - starting with Perahia and Haitink I bought as a student , Solomon, Zimerman/Rattle, Barenboim/Klemperer , Arrau . Galliera etc etc but for me Argerich is in a class of her own in this piece. She has made several recordings - only recently a live zinging performance with Ozawa but probably most of all my heart remains with her recording with Sinopoli.

What's your favourite ?

Well, he did write 3,4,5, and it’s still regarded as a masterpiece. It’s the Second PC that some people like to pick on, which I think is completely unjustifiable.
Many on the shelves that I enjoy. My first was Brendel on Vox. That still a hoot, despite dated sonics and orchestral playing that was more enthusiastic than polished. He really hits the “boogie-woogie” section of III with gusto. His later Phillips recordings don’t quite match but they are all satisfying.
I also enjoy Fleisher/Szell, Arrau with either Haitink or Davis, and Serkin with either Bernstein or Ormandy). I don’t really like fortepiano, but I have Immerseel (sp?) and it’s tolerable.

[smittims]

I don't know any recent recordings so I'd be hopeless at presenting a BaL. I'd have to do so much listening.

As always with concertos I prefer favourite soloists, in this case Schnabel , Gieseking and Backhaus. There's a fine Richter with Munch and the Boston Symphony.

[oliver sudden]

I don’t really like fortepiano, but I have Immerseel (sp?) and it’s tolerable.

I very much like fortepiano and Schoonderwoerd plays an absolute blinder. His ‘orchestra’, as throughout his Beethoven cycle (six concertos including op.61a), has single strings apart from two violas, emulating early performances in the houses of the nobility.

He chooses pianos from just before the pieces were written rather than from a decade or so after (which given the speed the instrument was developing at the time makes an enormous difference) and doesn’t play Beethoven’s surviving cadenzas since they’re mostly rather later than the pieces. The slow movement of 1 has an incredibly cheeky passage that sounds like a waltz avant la lettre, and gorgeous clarinet solo playing from I think Nicola Boud.

A lot of period performances of the Beethoven piano concertos sound like they still have the sound of a modern orchestra in their collective imagination. This one absolutely doesn’t and I find Schoonderwoerd’s whole cycle both unique and absolutely irresistible.

(I think I reviewed this for IRR back in the day!)

[Mandryka]

I plump for Hannes Minnaar/Jan Willem de Vriend.

I like Schoonderwoerd too - it's a sort of revelation in the orchestra at least.


I think it's an agreeable piece of music, and I'm normally a bit of a Beethovenphobe.

[Mandryka]

Well, he did write 3,4,5, and it’s still regarded as a masterpiece. It’s the Second PC that some people like to pick on, which I think is completely unjustifiable.
Many on the shelves that I enjoy. My first was Brendel on Vox. That still a hoot, despite dated sonics and orchestral playing that was more enthusiastic than polished. He really hits the “boogie-woogie” section of III with gusto. His later Phillips recordings don’t quite match but they are all satisfying.
I also enjoy Fleisher/Szell, Arrau with either Haitink or Davis, and Serkin with either Bernstein or Ormandy). I don’t really like fortepiano, but I have Immerseel (sp?) and it’s tolerable.

The second is very early I think (not totally sure) - earlier than the first. I'm not sure where I picked that up from.

[oliver sudden]

The second is very early I think (not totally sure) - earlier than the first. I'm not sure where I picked that up from.

It’s not much earlier and for quite a while they were both works in progress simultaneously. (I think there’s a Rondo among the ‘WoO’s that was originally a finale for op. 19.) But earlier it is indeed.

[CallMePaul]

As I am looking for a period instrument set to complement my complete sets by Perahia/ Haitink and Buchbinder (conducting the Vienna Phil from the keyboard) I must investigate this further. First impressions of both nos 1 and 4 (from excerpts on the Presto site) are favourable and it is a bargain at £13.80 for the complete set until mid-September!

[Expianoman]

La Tribune des Critiques de Disques on July 14, when considering six recordings in the last 20 years, went for Martha Argerich, Orchestre de chambre de Mito, Seiji Ozawa. However, one of the reviewers far preferred Martin Helmchen, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, dir. Andrew Manze. This was also my preference. A definite for the Christmas list.

[richardfinegold]

As I am looking for a period instrument set to complement my complete sets by Perahia/ Haitink and Buchbinder (conducting the Vienna Phil from the keyboard) I must investigate this further. First impressions of both nos 1 and 4 (from excerpts on the Presto site) are favourable and it is a bargain at £13.80 for the complete set until mid-September!

I listened to Brautigan yesterday on Apple and it was thrilling.

[Barbirollians]

Well reminded of Helmchen - his whole cycle is outstanding .

[Pulcinella]

Apart from Perahia/Concertgebouw/Haitink, I have only the BBC MM cover CD, but given that it's a 2010 Proms performance by Paul Lewis and the BBCSO under Bělohlávek, I've just dug it out for a spin, as it'll surely be worth another listen.
(The coupling is Boult's 1973 Proms performance of Holst's The Planets, also with the BBCSO.)

[smittims]

Yes, I have that. The same artists did all the five concertos that year; it was a good series. And speaing of Belohlavek and the BBC S.O. I have an off-air of Elisabeth Leonskaja with them . That's good too, but I don't know if she recored any Beethoven Concertos.

[oliver sudden]

I listened to Brautigan yesterday on Apple and it was thrilling.

With the Kölner Akademie? I love their Mozart so there is no excuse for me not having heard this. I shall rectify.