Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5

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Of the top pianists born in the year 1958, Yefim Bronfman is perhaps the least well known. If not for the 'fake' incident last year, perhaps even fewer people would mention his name in the classical music market.
The very fact that a pianist in his prime could have his recordings being stolen and taken as somebody else's for the sheer aim of money making shows how fast deteriorating the classical music world is at present.
For me at least, Bronfman is an excellent interpretor of Beethoven. So his legging up with David Zinman in this recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 and Choral Fantasy is nothing short of being immaculate.
Even in his other recordings, like the 4th Concerto, Bronfman demonstrates impeccable pyrotechnique as well as a highly charged passionate interpretation of Beethoven's more mature piano concertos. His Emperor is even more powerful than the 1967 version of Kempff and Leitner, and his outstanding collaboration with Zinman almost to the point perfection itself. I really could not imagine a better Concerto No. 5, especially among contemproary pianists.
In the Choral Fantasy, Bronfman shows off his lyricism to the full, and convinces audiences and listeners that he is not a hacker-like Beethovenian, but also a charmer as well.
I remain highly interested in waiting to hear when and who will have the ability to surpass this Bronfman/Zinman Emperor Concerto, not even taking into account the great value-for-money of this disc.

In recent years, the American conductor David Zinman and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich have been recording Beethoven's works for orchestra, including the nine symphonies, the overtures, the Missa Solemnis, and the concertos. The recordings are on Arte Nova and are available at a budget price. Zinman has joined with the virtuoso pianist Yefim Bronfman in recording the five Beethoven piano concertos concertos with outstanding results. This CD includes Beethoven's final piano concerto, no. 5 in E flat major, opus 73, nicknamed "Emperor", together with the Choral Fantasy in C minor opus 80, and a short choral work, "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage", opus 112.

The three works are beautifully performed. The Emperor concerto, composed in 1809, is the last and most dramatic of the Beethoven concertos. It is cast in the large-scale "heroic" style of the Third and the Fifth symphonies, beginning with the strong chords and piano arpeggios of the works opening moments. It is a work symphonic in scope as the pianist and orchestra alternatively collaborate with and duel against each other. Many of Zinman's other recordings tend to be fast in tempo and lyrical in character, but in this reading of the Emperor, Zinman and Bronfman play the heroic character of the music to the hilt. In the first movement, Bronfman brings powerhouse pianism to the flamboyant octave passages, solo themes, warlike trills, and flashy scales and arpeggios which characterize the solo part. Zinman adds structure, drama and a sense of orchestral coloring, particularly in the lyrical second theme Beethoven gives to the horns. The second movement is the highlight of this work for both Zinman and Bronfman, as soloists and orchestra interplay beautifully throughout the hymnlike noble theme. The rondo finale is a virtuosic, dancelike movement which Bronfman and Zinman play with clangor, vigor, and elan. This is a grand, large-scaled performance of heroic Beethoven.

The choral fantasy, opus 80, first performed in 1808 with Beethoven at the piano,was once thought of as a curiosity and as one of Beethoven's less successful works. Happily, the work has been receiving increased attention. The choral fantasy is rather short but scored for an elaborate ensemble of piano, orchestra, chorus, and six soloists. It is a predecessor to the Ninth Symphony. The work opens with a long, improvisatory piano solo, followed by the gradual entrance of the instruments of the orchestra accompanied by the piano in a theme-and-variation format. Finally the chorus, soloists, piano, and orchestra join in a brief song that celebrates the power of art to redeem life. The transparency of the wind parts are tailor-made for Zinman, as his soloists offer touches of filigree to the music as their parts are introduced. Bronfman is most impressive in the improvisatory fanastasia that opens the work, and the chorus and soloists sing with enthusiasm and vigor. The choral fantasy is still a work that deserves a better reputation. This performance will introduce it well to the listener who may be unfamiliar with it.

The CD closes with some rare Beethoven, the short chorale work (also sometimes performed by four soloists) "Calm Seas and Prosperous Voyages" opus 112 written in 1814-15 and setting two poems by Goethe. This brief work consists of two contrasting sections, the first slow, melancholy, and foreboding and the second joyous and triumphal. Together with the familiar Fifth piano concerto and the lesser-known choral fantasy, this CD offers the opportunity to hear this infrequently performed chorale piece of late Beethoven.

Robin Friedman

The best part of this disc is the fine rendering of Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy," a one off combination of the fantasy, piano concerto, and cantata. I'll admit to a fondness for the work that goes back to my first exposure to it as a filler for the Serkin/Bernstein recording of the Beethovan Piano Concerto No. 3 on a Columbia Lp. Bronfman's playing, the clarity of the orchestra, and excellent choral work combine to make this a very good performance indeed.

I'm not very enthusiastic about the "Emperor". First, Bronfman uses excessive rubato in the opening florishes of the first movement. In the development, the octave passages are well played but mechanical. Listen to Serkin (with Bernstein) for the ideal of virtuosity at the service of expression. Bronfman's expressive playing (and Zinman's faster than usual pacing) of the second movement is the highlight of the performance. The conductor nails the Adagio un poco mosso at an appropriate walking pace. Unfortunately, the finale disappoints as overblown with too many fussy rhetorical gestures. The Tonhalle's tonal polish isn't up to its own standards established in the Beethoven symphony cycle and recent Mahler releases - the latter probably enhanced by excellent SACD engineering.

For my money, Serkin and Bernstein (1962) established the gold standard for the "Emperor". Serkin's playing is imperious and expressive with Bernstein providing like-minded support. Brendel with Levine and the Chicago Symphony is my second choice. Bronfman doesn't add anything to what these artists had to say about the piece.

At the budget price, this is an OK "Emperor" coupled with an outstanding "Choral Fantasy'"

A brisk and dynamic Emperor, crisply articulated and strongly accented, with full due given to the brass and woodwinds. This is obviously a historically-informed performance and Zinman mixes modern instruments and natural trumpets and horns. From the typically dry sound of his timpani I suspect that they are period timps with natural skins, or at least that they are struck with wooden sticks. But for the "traditionalists" who'd be tempted to find the approach excessively rushed and perverted by the evil influence of period practice, Zinman's first movement clocks at 19:26, to be compared to Casadesus-Mitropoulos' 18:50 in 1955 (Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 / De Falla), Horowitz-Reiner's 18:55 in 1952 (Horowitz Collection - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1/Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "The Emperor"), Schnabel-Galliera's 19:07 in 1947 (I have it in a very poor transfer on a bootleg label for which I won't provide a link, and I haven't heard Schnabel's two other recordings, with Sargent in 1932 and Stock ten years later), Katz-Barbirolli's 19:20 in 1959 (Barbirolli: Music of Beethoven) and Fleisher-Szell's same two years later (Beethoven: The 5 Piano Concertos/Mozart: Concerto No.25). The same comparisons could be made in the finale, but I'll stop pestering with statistics. But beyond the brisk tempo and dynamic approach, the instrumental felicities are too numerous to mention; suffice to say that Zinman shows an admirable attention to the details of Beethoven's scoring and articulation, and that the bassoon - not usually the most exposed instrument in the orchestra - has great character. Bronfman plays with an equally admirable palette of color and articulation, and knows how to relax without lingering in the more lyrical or dreamy moments. Did somebody write "dull, non-ambitious and simply boring "? Some listeners should not run the vacuum cleaner or answer phone calls while listening to their CDs. Again the tempo in the slow movement is flowing, more than any of the above-mentioned versions except Casadesus' (in both his recordings, with Mitropoulos and Rosbaud, Robert Casadesus - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 " Emperor ", Piano Sonata Op. 101), but Bronfman is entirely up to the movement's restraint and dreamy atmosphere, and with a clarity of articulation that irresistibly brings to mind the slow movement of Ravel's Concerto in G (although, by Ravel's own admission, it was inspired by the slow movements of Mozart's Piano concertos - but hearing Bronfman and Zinman, it is obvious that Ravel was wrong, and that his unconscious model was really here).

The Choral Fantasia is equally outstanding. It starts with a very brisk and dramatic introductory cadenza, and continues with the same brisk tempos, playing up the contrast between the urgent and almost menacing orchestral phrases, and the lyrical and pensive responses from the piano (a process typical of the slow movement of the 4th piano concerto). Zinman conducts with great drive, muscle and snap. Especially noteworthy is the piquancy and zest of woodwinds, and the unique military atmosphere of the Marcia (12:52), highlighted again by the dry thunder of the period timps, evoking (quite appropriately I think) Berlioz' "Symphonie funèbre et triomphale". Again, the historically-informed nature of this performance is shown by the flourishes from flute, oboe, clarinet and violin at cadential points (respectively 5:24, 5:55, 6:20, 6:50), and likewise with the piano at 15:43. My only minor complaint then would be that the soloists from the chorus are in a strange perspective relative to the piano, separated from the chorus and very close to the listener. It makes their lines very clear, but the whole perspective sounds somewhat artifical. But the soloists are excellent, especially the two most exposed, first soprano and first tenor, and so is the chorus. The coda has irresistible drive.

I'm glad that this CD gave me the additional opportunity and pleasure to hear again Beethoven's choral work after two poems of Goethe, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. I hadn't heard it for years (it was the recording of Michael Tilson Thomas, Beethoven: Late Choral Music), and must not have listened very carefully back then (but then, you didn't have the internet to download the scores from in those days). It is a masterpiece, equal to any of Beethoven. It is Haydn's Schöpfung in miniature. Its first part, a musical depiction of silence upon the sea which may be the silence of death (the English title doesn't hint that it is the dead calm that becalms the ship), is breathtakingly daring. And when the dark skies break up and the land is in view, the explosion is like the jubilation of resurrection. Texts unfortunately not provided, I fished on the internet.

In the earlier days of the LP, things were clearly binary: you had the great performers and orchestras with the big labels at full price, and the lesser orchestras and performers on the cheap and sub-par labels. Not anymore. Zinman's Beethoven cycle is a major undertaking, worthy to be in anybody's collection, and I'd be happy to live with this disc if I had only one version of these works. And if anybody can hear the difference between the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and a major orchestra, please let me know. Or better: the difference is that the Zurichers play with a clarity and crispness rarely encountered with larger and majorer symphony orchestras. And all that for the price of - well, just look. I feel guilty to pay so little for such outstanding quality.

These could have been performances for the ages, and for some listeners they may be. Bronfman blends technical perfection and poetry in a way that recalls his mentor, Leon Fleisher, who remains the standard-bearer for these concertos. For me, these performances are undermined by the lean, fussy, "period-informed" (though on modern instruments) accompaniment. The largesse of Bronfman's playing would be better served by a traditional, higher-calorie, orchestral partnership, perhaps such as Sir Colin Davis and the Statskappelle Dresden gave Claudio Arrau on their famous set. But even they might have been undone by the other big problem of this series: the sound quality of the recording, which is veiled, harsh, and congested. The solo piano sounds OK, but the string tone of the violin section is particularly nasty. Overall, the low price of this series makes it worth buying just to hear Bronfman. If you like the jerky, undernourished period sound, this may go to the top of your list. My favorites remain Fleisher, Kempff (the earlier mono set), and Arrau/Davis.

I had been looking for a matching set of the Beethoven concertos when I stumbled upon this series with Zinman/Bronfman. The price was right and I like Bronfman, so I invested in all of them. The first two concertos were decent, but unfortunately the last three and the Choral Fantasy fall short. The last concertos are performed in a more Classical style which better suits the first two. This disc and the one with concertos 3&4 are lacking the lush romanticism that befits the style and period in which the concertos were written. They're just a bit too dry and leave you wanting something more.

If you're like me and want a set, go for the new EMI Triples release with Christian Zacharias/Hans Vonk. The price is comparable, if not better, and the performances are out of this world.

Are you serious? This is one of the most dull, non-ambitious and simply boring performances of the 5th that I ever have heard. The orchestra is dry and unappealing and the soloist playing, although transparent and skillful, expresses nothing beyond arranged series of sounds.
Very disappointing.