Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concertos 4 & 5 "Emperor"

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Emperor Concerto probably is supposed to be the main attraction on this CD, and the performance of it presenteed here is laudable. But for me the lovely 4th is the most beautiful of the Beethoven Piano Concertos and this performance by Claudio Arrau and Sir Colin Davis is special. It is, quite simply, the most beautiful performance of this uniquely lyrical concerto that I have ever heard. Yes, the tempos are somewhat slower than usual, but this allows Arrau and Davis to bring out all the subtle glories of this very special masterpiece. There are many fine performances of the exhuberant Emperor Concerto available but few pianists and conductors -- even among the most famous -- seem capable of understanding and presenting the gentler beauties contained in the 4th concerto. Arrau and Davis have captured and presented these exquisite beauties better than any other pianist and conductor. If you love the gentler side of Beethoven -- or just great piano music -- I beg you to get this CD and listen to it with open ears. You will be amply rewarded.

I strongly commend Philips for reissuing these recordings and putting them on one CD. Without question, these are two of the finest performances of Beethoven's last two piano concerti. Arrau gives two great performances. He is at his soulful best in the fourth concerto, playing with much warmth and tenderness, especially in the second and third movements. Yet his performance of the fifth is just as compelling; I would say that it is quite possibly one of the three finest recordings of the "Emperor" concerto that I've heard, alongside Perahia's splendid performance recorded by CBS/Sony Classical with Bernard Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Stephen Kovacevich accompanied by Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra on a Philips recording that may no longer be available here in the United States. Speaking of Sir Colin Davis, he conducts the Dresden Staatskapelle with much warmth, without getting in the way of Arrau's lyrical pyrotechnics on the piano. The Dresden's flawless playing is as warm as the Berlin Staatskapelle's wonderful performances of the entire Beethoven symphony cycle conducted by Daniel Barenboim, their music director. Hopefully Phillips will reissue the other three concerti in the Arrau/Davis/Dresden Staatskapelle cycle soon.

Claudio Arrau was one of those rare musicians who possessed a spiritual and emotional depth so vast, so natural and so spontaneous that he was capable of allowing music as eternal as these Beethoven concertos to speak freely and sincerely through his fingertips.

Here, there is a complete lack of effort or concern, an open and natural absence of shovanistic artistry and interpretation. One only hears the majesty of Beethoven's music, and feels the security of being led by musicians speaking from the heart.

Sir Colin Davis provides an extraordinarily sympathetic and lustre accompaniment and the sound is as full and as warm as a Caribbean breeze.

I return to these recordings often. I feel that they are limitless and speak universally, and I would like to take this opportunity to recommend them to everyone.

Claudio Arrau recorded these Beethoven concerti while in his early 80's. Having played these pieces all his life, his readings here are something of a backward, departing glance after much time spent in their company.

This is most obvious in the 4th concerto. Arrau plays the 1st movement a tick or two slower than he probably did earlier in his life and, certainly, slower than his contemporaries. This choice seems initially to let the air out of the tires a bit while exposing greater beauties further on in the solo part. The leisurely pace is not without pitfalls, however, as a slower tempo poses a greater problem for the orchestra than the piano. The instrumental textures are quite thick and, when played too slowly, it is very easy for the orchestral part to lose its sense of line. Colin Davis does everything he can to support Arrau's singular vision of this movement, and I'm happy to say that he succeeds for the most part. He makes a wonderful ensemble when playing with Arrau, getting out of his way so the piano can really have its say. Arrau avoids the temptation to be rhythmically fussy or tortured, as I've sometimes heard him do in other pieces of the same period. Here he is lyrical and wistful, but thankfully not mawkish or sentimental. The cadenza comes off as more reflective than virtuosic, although there are moments of genuine fire. While I prefer more brio myself, Arrau's choice here argues convincingly for a slightly different approach.

The 2nd and 3rd movements are more conventionally drawn and wonderfully played. The andante is a somber dialogue, the piano pleading with a grim and resolute orchestra. The rondo finale is sprightly and rhythmic with a great variety of touch and expression.

The reading of the 5th concerto is highly extroverted, on the other hand. Arrau and Davis give one of the most sincerely noble and grand renditions of a work that has become overly familiar and possibly overplayed. For example, the 1st movement opening cadenza is often played with very little imagination and/or no color by younger players these days. In contrast, Arrau plays it with a disarming rhythmic spontaneity and actually gives it some shape. The big moments are as big as the piano can possibly give, Arrau squeezing out the very last milligram of sound possible from the instrument, with Davis and company matching him blow for blow. The quiet moments are beautifully projected, and the close is exultant. The 2nd movement is solemnly paced, with moments of great delicacy and lyricism from both parties. The 3rd movement is buoyant, playful and highly colored, although one has the impression that Arrau is occasionally playing slightly behind the beat.

Recording sound quality and balance are excellent. In many ways, a superb recording.

Both recordings have satisfied me enormously. I find these performances so alluring that I have returned to them more often that I care to remember. What a masterly way of coming home for superb musicians like Arrau and Davis. Most rewarding seems to be the maturity, depthness, pause and authority of delivery, from both Arrau and Davis. Sound quality is first class as well. I recall that these recordings, along with the rest of the cycle, won the 1989 Japan Record Academy Award.

I bought this CD to replace a recording I used to have. I've listened to many versions through the years. Claudio Arau's stands head and shoulder's above the rest. If you are a fan of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, this CD should be in your collection.

From the sound of this CD it seems Arrau and Davis had a rapport. Davis once described himself as "devoted" to Arrau and I think it shows here. Unfortunately, they waited until very late in Arrau's career to record together, and by the time they did Arrau had become the plodding pianist many people today mistakenly believe he always was. (These people are often shocked to hear his pre-stereo recordings, where he often played at excessively fast tempi!)

The Fourth Concerto particularly suffers here from soggy accents, plodding tempi and a lack of overall drama. It's true Arrau was never one to gallop out of the gate in the G Major's first movement--he often stated the Moderato in "Allegro moderato" should be written in *red* ink on the score. And there are some moments of majesty here, revealing what Arrau at his peak was: the cadenzas are marvels, and the pedal work throughout so amazing that sometimes I think I'm hearing an instrument that's part piano and part organ. The second movement is one of the most profound and inwardly spiritual on record: Arrau takes us to another plane. But the third movement lacks power, as do many of the grand moments with orchestra in the first movement. There's little build, little drama,and Arrau sometimes sounds as though his technique is holding on, though for someone his age it was still impressive. (Many pianists contined to record when they had decayed far more.) Still, you just want to poke a stick at him occasionally.

The Fifth comes off somewhat better. Arrau treats it as a chamber work. That may sound ludicrous, but the proof's in the pudding, and he and Davis make it work. Theirs is a very special conception, with the give-and-take usually reserved for small groups. Here even more Arrau's technique is pushed, however, and there are some passages he can't quite make without the effort showing. He and Davis first collaborated on this work in 1975, when Arrau was fresher, and as I said, I wish they would have recorded it earlier than this 1986 date. Still, this is a noble reading of the Emperor, with a restrained but deeply-felt grandeur, a lushness of tone (both concerti are beautifully captured by Philips), and not a hint of excess or showmanship. There are flashes of tremendous depth and profundity in these works that Arrau had lived with for well more than half a century. Still, overall his earlier recordings with Bernard Haitink also on Philips and Alceo Galliera on EMI (now out of print--SHAME SHAME EMI!) are preferred to the present release. This disc is worth investigating for the 5th, but those who love these works and/or love Arrau's unique way with them (especially the 4th, where he has no peer to my ears) should hunt for his earlier readings in the second-hand stores--especially the neglected EMI recordings. (The Haitink readings of the concerti are available in a boxed set featuring Arrau in all of the piano music he recorded by Beethoven. There's also a majestic live recording of these two concerti with Klemperer and the Philharmonia on Testament. They're mono and not of the greatest sound, which is also true of the Galliera set, but the performances are heaven-storming.)

One can say a whole bunch of words about this recording but once you listen you have to stop yourself and say "what good are words to express this?" What good are words to express the feeling that falls upon you, heavy in the room, when the last notes of "Emperor" end and the silence you dreaded to hear -- but that you knew was perfectly placed -- lingers and you know that you can't listen to any more music today, or perhaps longer, out of reverence to the triumph of the human mind spelled out so brilliantly in Beethoven's composition or the testament to a life dedicated to music rendering each of those notes so flawlessly through the fingertips of Claudio Arrau...or perhaps because you know that anything else you listen to today would be hollow and weak in comparison.

There really aren't any words that truly do this recording justice.

I am very disappointed with this recording. Like too much of Davis's recent recordings, it is excessively "well-behaved." Too slow, too little attention to the musical "line"--to keeping the piece moving.

To hear the great Claudio Arrau at his best, I strongly recommend his 1964 recording with Bernard Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra (on Philips, I think). I recently came across that, and it's spectacular.