Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4

Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Kurt Sanderling (Conductor), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Orchestra), Mitsuko Uchida (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Mitsuko Uchida
• Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
• Conductor: Kurt Sanderling
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
• Audio CD (April 9, 1996)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Philips
• ASIN: B0000041BG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,718 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a fine wine, Uchida glows ever brighter with aging, January 14, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 (Audio CD)

This 'definitive recording' of the Beethoven Concertos #3 and #4 are nearly ten years old now, and for all the beauty of these performances it is gratifying to know that in the ensuing hiatus Mitsuko Uchida has continued to finesse and probe and grow with these works.

Few pianists today can hold a candle to the current level of artistry and understanding of Uchida's Force of Nature approach to Beethoven. In these performances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Kurt Sanderling the overall readings are excellent. Certainly no one can argue with the status of all three participants of this recording, yet to these ears the orchestral accompaniment is a bit thick and overpowering. Some would say that Uchida is not a 'big sound', but hearing her play all five of the Beethoven Concerti in the current cycle with the LA Philharmonic with Esa-Pekka Salonen reveals that she can garner more powerful pure sound from the piano than the majority of her colleagues.

The difference in Uchida's approach is her total communication with the orchestra: her concentration even when the piano is tacit is palpable and she seems visually and sonically wedded to the conductor and the musicians. Yet for all the magnificent bravura power of the cadenzas, enough sound to utterly fill the dramatic acoustic of Disney Hall, Uchida is equally pensive and barely audible in portions of her languorous slow movements. The opening of the Largo of the #3 seems to emerge from the center of the earth and then blossom with the most elegant of phrasing details.

By all means, this recording is the best available as of now. One only hopes that Uchida and Salonen are capturing the current cycle on Hybrid to show the extraordinary growth in the past ten years! Grady Harp, January 2005

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare concentration., November 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 (Audio CD)

Along with Sanderling's mature conducting, she proves herself to be one of the greatest pianists in our time, again. Especially in cadenza, her concentration in music is stunning. You cannot really hear this CD just as a background music; she requires us to listen to it.

12 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mitsuko is fabulous - only ONE better..., October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 (Audio CD)

In the review above, David Hurwitz says: "There are three protagonists here: Uchida, Sanderling, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Each makes an equal contribution to the success of this outstanding disc, surely the finest versions of this music yet to appear in digital sound." However, it is apparent that he wrote those words prior to the release of the new Helene Grimaud performance (of the 4th concerto) on Teldec.

Mitsuko is fabulous. The grace and artisic style she has brought to the music of Mozart & Schubert are in evidence here. My only "complaint" is that she is a "small" player and has a bit of difficulty competing with the orchestra. All in all, this disc is wonderful, but...

Check out the Grimaud!