Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4

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

 

 

Serkin at the end of his career. Ozawa drifting somewhere in his. What could make for a better set of Beethoven concerti, eh? This album, recorded at the beginning of the digital age, sounds fairly good, though a little distant and fuzzy at times, and the proponents of analogue being "warmer" will find much ammunition for their argument here. Serkin play two concerti he must have played hundreds of times in his career (and I heard him play the Fourth twice) and Ozawa gives the whole the sort of smeary blend that was taught to him by "the master," his mentor Herbert von Karajan. The result is...well, what you'd hear at Boston's Symphony Hall on a very typical night at the time. Nothing bad but nothing spectacular either.

I don't really have anything to say about the Second, which I consider one of the worst pieces Beethoven ever wrote. (He later came to consider it this way himself.) As for the Fourth, neither Serkin nor Ozawa pushes this as far as it can go. The first movement really has two development sections back to back; the first sticks pretty close to shoreline. The second wanders far afield and is Beethoven exploring what were then new boundaries. I think it's fairly self evident that any intelligent interpreter uses that second one to really push in terms of rubato, color, pedaling, as this is where Beethoven breaks new symphonic ground. (In a different-but-similar vain, Beethoven reserved the recap for this in his Fifth Symphony, which contains a second, new, wilder development section.) Serkin and Ozawa don't push much; their response in the two development sections are the same. Add to that a fairly monotonous sound from the BSO and you get a rather homogenized LvB 4th. Ozawa likes this approach--you should hear him apply it to Mahler's Second Symphony!--but I think it makes for a rather tame performance of one of the most poetic, rhapsodic work of all time. There's nothing here that hasn't been said in countless other recordings, no real reason to rerecord these pieces, pounding war horses into dead horses.

Ditto the slow movement, which is usually the highlight of any Beethoven 4th concerto disc.

Contrast this rather well-mannered performance with Arrau/Klemperer on Testament (live). This is one of the most thrilling Beethoven 4th's I've ever heard. In that second development section of the first movement Arrau, in the midst of passion (yes, for those of you who've only heard his calculated studio performances, Arrau live was a different animal) drops some notes and overplays a few passages. But who cares? There's a burning intensity there, and the sadness and longing is palpable. Serkin just can't match this kind of dedication.

If you must have better sound than the Klemp, there's also a very fine studio Fourth with Arrau and Haitink/Concertgebouw. Even Wilhelm Kempff, hardly the most exciting pianist out there, gives us a fine Fourth with Paul van Kempen. (I prefer it to his other, more easily available DG recording with Ferdinand Leitner, but that one also has its champions.) This disc here is fairly dispensable, and harkens back to the 80s when every label just about was flooding the market with unremarkable digital remakes of luke-warm quality (Mehta, Barenboim, Ozawa, Marriner, et al). Superfluous.

I bought this CD primarily because it rounded out my collection; I already had the odd-numbered piano concerti, some by Serkin, some by others. But I'm so impressed by it that it's now my favorite of all the Beethoven piano concerti. Both the artistry and the sound quality are first rate. I now wish I could get the same quality recording of the other 3.

I'm not a musicologist and don't play one on TV. Nor do I even read what musicologists write. But here's my musicological take; I find the 2 and 4 "sweet" in comparison to the 1, 3, and 5. Against this backdrop, I think this CD brings out the sweetness in its mixing, with a little more emphasis on the strings relative to the percussion than some other issues. But generally I find Telarc has really overcome some of the shortcomings of early DDD recordings. Telarc productions are full and rich, as well as crisp and clear; many DDDs meet the latter criterion but not the former, causing some listeners actually to prefer ADD.

Having said that, I admit I wasn't completely satisfied with the mixing of the Rondo of the 4. I felt it let the melody get a little suppressed toward the end.

One warning: If you know Serkin at all, you know that, like Gould, he's a hummer, and one who's often off-key. I'm used to it, as I have several of his CDs and LPs, going back to the first LP I ever bought, his Beethoven 5th. But if he's new to you, or this sort of thing puts you off, you might want to look elsewhere. I find myself in disagreement with the other reviewer who says Serkin doesn't draw attention to himself.

I had the privilege of seeing/hearing Serkin perform this concerto in person with the Los Angeles Philamonic. Serkin plays this piece as well as all the music he plays with such humility that I swear he lets the composer come through him. This concerto which is my favorite is a beautiful conversation between the piano and the orchestra. Serkin hears the orchestra and responds with the most heartbreaking responses. If you only have one version of the concerto, this is the one.

A wonderful recording.

Serkin's playing is so thoughtful and doesn't draw attention to himself. It's great.

I've heard so many versions of the 5th by many wonderful pianists, but this is far and away my favorite recorded version. The tempos (or should that be tempi?), the dynamics, Serkin's powerful but graceful technique, the balance between the orchestra and the soloist; everything is exquisite.

A beautiful recording of two of Beethoven's great sensitive works of art.