1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent playing and sound, but Piano Concerto No. 1 is really FAST!, April 19, 2007
This review is from: Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 (Audio CD)
I enjoyed Rudolf Serkin's 1965 CBS recording of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, with Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra. The stereo sound is very good, and the Philadelphia Orchestra play as well as ever: they were a really terrific ensemble in 1965! But the tempo Serkin and Ormandy set in I is just too fast for my taste. II and III are more conventional, and fine, but I feels rushed.
Serkin's Beethoven PC 3, with Bernstein/New York Philharmonic was recorded in 1964, and sounds a little cramped in spots. The New York orchestra did not have the tonal sheen or lushness of Ormandy's Philadelphia, but are very fine just the same. Bernstein relys on interpretation to carry the day, not sonority. Also, this recording has been released on at least two other Sony Classical releases: the "Bernstein Royal Edition" from 1992, and a 1999 "Bernstein Century" release.
Neither of these are my favorite recordings. For Beethoven PC 1, I would turn to Sviatoslav Richter/Munch/Boston (RCA), Fleischer/Szell/Cleveland (Sony) or Kempff/Leitner/Berlin Philharmonic (DG); for Beethoven PC 3:
Fleischer/Szell (Sony), Ashkenazy/Solti/Chicago (London); or- if it's ever released as a single CD: Pollini/Bohm/Vienna Philharmonic (DG).
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