Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4

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

 

 

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

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.

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!