Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 / Choral Fantasy

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

 

 

I lavished praise on the Barenboim-Klemperer cycle of the five Beethoven piano concertos. Their May-December marriage brought out the best in both artists, and overall, anyone who expects the octagenarian Klemperer to sound feeble or sluggish has nothing to worry about. And yet...

This Emperor and Choral Fantasy are definitely the weak links in the cycle. All three movements of the concerto seem a bit lumbering at times, and Barenboim sounds constrained, as if he is using weight and volume to make up fr the halting tempos. There is some great musicianship on display, but you have to be a fan of Klemperer's stolid Beethoven symphonies to find these readings inspired. He becomes, if anything, heavier and more measured in the Choral Fantasy, an improvisatory work that only succeeds if it's tossed off with moment-by-moment excitement, as we get from Serkin and Bernstien on Sonly.

This CD finds a young Daniel Barenboim doing what he does best -- sitting on the piano bench instead of standing at the podium. Here he plays magnificently with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra on Beethoven's Emporer Concerto and the Choral Fantasy. Interestingly, Klemperer was originally scheduled to record these Beethoven Concertos with Rudolf Firkusny, but the conductor became ill and Firkusny was not available upon Klemp's return. Barenboim was a more than able substitute but it is still nice to imagine what could have been. Those who are truly interested in this material should pass on this single disc though, and get all of the Klemp/Barenboim performances as part of the EMI box set of the symphonies and concertos (concertos 1-4 are not currently available as single discs). A final note, these classic stereo recordings should be preferred hands down to Barenboim's Beethoven Concerto recordings on EMI Seraphim where he both plays and conducts.

This is the version of the "Emperor" I grew up with (I had it on cassette tape back then). I was impressed by its massive power. Coming back to it now, decades later, with much more listening under my belt and many versions of Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, I recognize better than I was able to back then its limitations. The introduction is indeed impressive, unfolding massive and majestic power. But what ensues is typical Klemperer: massive, very deliberate (he takes the first movement in 22:45; every body else I've heard is in 20 and under), trudging at times if not slumbering, but those impressions are to an extent (but to an extent only) offset by the powerful orchestral utterance, and Barenboim is admirable for successfully bringing in some dynamism and keeping it always crisp. With its deliberate pace and typical ternary rythms the finale irresistibly brings to mind the first movement of Klemperer's Beethoven's 7th Symphony, evoking some hippos out of Fantasia merrily hop-scotching - it does have a certain charm, if a kind of twisted one. The slow movement is admirable, as beautiful in atmosphere as anybody's (although I regret that Barenboim's left hand is almost inaudible). But for the composition's dynamism and excitement, look elsewhere.

Likewise, the Choral Fantasy is exactly what you expect from Klemperer: again very deliberate (here again compare its 20:57 to the 19:18 of Harnoncourt, Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Rondo in B flat; Choral Fantasy, by no means a "fast" version), more reflective and majestic than exciting, directly in the spiritual world of the 9th Symphony (or rather: the 9th symphony as seen by the German tradition). The sextet of soloists are obviously drawn from the chorus and the best I can say is that they belong there. They and the chorus are surprisingly (and disappointingly) soft-grained, with not as much impact as you'd want. Surprising that the producers didn't record a new patch to cover Barenboim's slipping out of sync with the orchestra at 12:49. Barenboim's previous recording, made in 1964 for Westminster with Laszlo Somogyi conducting the Vienna State Opera House, is by no means perfect, but it is preferable: see my review of Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3. I haven't yet heard Barenboim's third recording, played and conducted by himself, but I read that it is the best of the three, and it comes with his only recording of the marvelous Triple Concerto: Beethoven - Triple Concerto ~ Choral Fantasy / Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Berliner Phil., Barenboim

The recordings are from 1967 and still sound great, but this is best reserved to fans of Klemperer (which I am). I'd rate it 3,5 (for the Piano Concerto, not for the Choral Fantasy), and the nudge up is in nostalgic memory of the good old days, and also in consideration of the unique idiosyncracies of this version of the "Emperor". But for more exciting views of the two compositions, in the same coupling, go to Bronfman and Zinman: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5.