Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos 4 & 5 /Schoonderwoerd * Ensemble Cristofori

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

 

 

This was a real revelation to me! A small orchestra playing the way it no doubt sounded in Beethoven's day! I heard things that I've not noticed before and found the performance thrilling!

This is a rather different interpretation of these well known pieces.

Noteable is the tone and clarity of the forte piano used,much richer than what many would come to expect.

Also worthy of note is the way,in the Concerto No.4,in which Cristofori bring to the fore a remarkeable sounding viola.

Overall,it is worth the listening and may in fact quite closely resemble the way in which it was first presented and performed.

Although I am a lover of original instruments, I can't been enthusiastic about this recording. The one-on-a-part string section doesn't work. I have only listened to #5, but the viola responses on the first movement sound like a rebec player trying to scratch out a romantic tune- it needs a full section. Everything is so clear that you get no feeling for the impression Beethoven was creating. If I wanted to know every note he wrote I could just look at the score. Wow, I sound like an anti-early instrument guy!!!! That's truly weird.

I attended a fantastic performance last Sunday of #3 with a Massachusetts original instrument ensemble, the Arcadia Players. This was a small orchestra, but still there 5 or so violins on a part. What a difference!

I am disappointed! Musicians are top notch but it is not possible making concerto out of chamber squad.

18th century orchestra had at least double and triple violins per section to counterpart the winds and if it is underscored, then adjustments are made such as reduction to strings, one that Mozart did to his three concertos. This a is big mistake, and there is no reasonable explanation. It is ruined!!!!!!