Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 / Triple Concerto (Essential Classics)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD offers wonderful performances of two Beethoven compositions, one very well known, the Piano Concerto #5, and the other somewhat less well-known, the Triple Concerto. The recording of the piano concerto is legendary and remains one of the greatest performances of this piece on record today. Pianist Leon Fleisher and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell recorded all of the Beethoven concerti and this performance shows both Fleisher and Cleveland in top form. The Triple Concerto, while less well known than the piano concerto, is a wonderful piece requiring a great orchestra to really bring it to life and give it it's due and the Philadelphia Orchestra with Eugene Ormandy certainly fill the bill. The soloists, Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose and Eugene Istomin give a marvelous performance although here and there the tempos seem a bit slower than I prefer. Still, this is great musicmaking and I highly recommend this recording. By the way, I know a little something about these pieces because I am the violinist of The Amadeus Trio.

In the 1950s and 60s, CBS/Columbia (now Sony Classical) had the great fortune to have three of America's best orchestras and their conductors on their recording roster -- Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. Nearly a half-century later, only Leonard Bernstein remains a name that even the non-classical music world knows. But in the world of the compact disc, this is a wonderful thing, because while Leonard Bernstein analog stereo recordings sell at mid-price, classic performances by Ormandy and Szell are regulated to the budget line. Well, my friends there is justice in the world because the vast majority of these "budget line" recordings are not only amazing, but some are still considered definitive more than 40 years later! One such definitive performance is this Szell recording of Beethoven's "Emperor" Piano Concerto with Leon Fleisher, and in fact the cycle of all five concertos is still something at which to marvel. Fleisher bows out on the Triple Concerto to be replaced by Eugene Istomin, and along with violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Leonard Rose they record a memorable performance. Never did something of such high quality come at such a small price. Enjoy!

The critical consensus regarding Beethoven's Triple Concerto identifies Oistrakh, Rostropovich, Richter, Karajan, Berlin PO recording as the definitive recording. While an excellent performance, I disagree with the consensus. Stern, Rose, Istomin, and, yes, Ormandy and his Philadelphians delivery superb, rhythmically incisive reading that, due to the wonderful phrasing of both soloists and ensemble, makes for more satisfying listening. Stern, Rose, and Istomin don't wear their virtuosity on the their sleeves the way that Rostropovich and, to a lesser degree, Oistrakh seem to do. In short, the Americans got their musical priorities right in a way that I'm afraid their Soviet counterparts did not.

The rightly acclaimed Fleisher/Szell/Cleveland recording of the Emperor opens this wondeful disc; other reviewers have said enough about this fine performance. I will caution, though, that the remastering suffers, especially at the beginning of the concerto, from some noticeable, fuzzy distortion. (I don't know if the defect is present in the original masters or in subsequent reissues on LP and CD of the performance.) This minor flaw doesn't detract from the overall recording, though: I recommend it highly.

George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra were long known for becoming one of the geratest orchestras of the 20th century, and for developing a musical precision not usually seen outside of the elite orchestras of the world. Leon Fleisher was known for being the main successor to Schnabel's style of Piano playing, which works perfectly in combination with the Cleveland Orchestra.

I would also recommend EMI's "Great Recording's of the Century' series and the DG Originals series if you want to compare this legendary recording with other notable recordings. Ashkenazy with George Solti might also be another version worth looking into, but Fleisher is the bets of the bunch and this CD can be had for budget pricing if you look around.

Superb precision from the Cleveland Orchestra combined with the piano skills of Leon Fleisher show why this legendary performance still gets rave reviews decades later.

The triple concerto was done with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Ormandy was known for moderate tempos and sometimes a lack of emotion, but its still a solid performance. Stern, Istomin and Rose are the soloists on the Triple concerto, but they are up to the task and deliver an acceptable performance.

The only recording I had before of this Triple Concerto is Von Karajan, Mutter, Zeltser and Ma. I have loved this concerto since I first heard it as a child, but when my virtual library went awol thanks to an electronic meltdown, I felt I had to go look for a new version. This is what I have been looking for - for ever. It is so rich and expressive I think I am hearing the concerto for the first time. Rather than the somewhat precise performance I had before, this is truly wonderful. I have to admit to being a true fan of the Stern/Rose/Istamin recordings of chamber music, but had not realized that in concert with this orchestra the performance would be such a gem. Consider me a complete convert.....

I love the artistic expressive playing by both pianists and the orchestra. This is a treat to hear for anybody who's a long time fan of classical music or anybody new to classical music.

"Emperador" es el gran concierto y si esta o no dedicado a Napoleon es una discusión que solo especialistas tienen, para nosotros lo importante es poder disfrutarlo, y en este caso, eso es lo que hacemos. Leon Fleisher es un gran pianista, claro que de los años sesenta y no tan popular, lo he comentado son grabaciones de la CBS-Columbia (hoy Sony classical) que por años registro de manera grandiosa una amplia gama de obras con solistas de gran nivel que no alcanzaron resonancia tiempo despues salvo algunos casos, asi tenemos a Leonard Rose, Eugene Istomin, Rudolf Serkin, Isaac Stern y el propio Fleisher, que bajo la batuta de George Szell y Eugene Ormandy lograron grabaciones excepcionales. El triple Concerto por su lado aunque una obra simple en su estructura nos muestra la genialidad de Beethoven al integrar tres solistas y lograr que el cello no sea opacado por el violin o el piano. Istomin, Rose y Stern, hacen de este concierto una pequeña obra maestra. Ormandy los acompaña como siempre de la mejor forma.
George Szell un director húngaro al igual que Ormandy realiza interpretaciones de un nivel insuperable, sinfonías que van desde Mozart a Bruckner, conciertos y otras obras son presentadas por este director de manera soberbia.

Behold! The definitive 5! You won't hear better Ludwig PCs than these, period. Buy'em, rip'em, & git doun wid'em! Fleisher and Szell/Cleveland rule! And now it's so great to hear that Leon is back with two hands! Check out his new Brahms chamber album with the Emerson 4! Awesome!