Customer Reviews

Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Rondo in B flat; Choral Fantasy

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I have to go back a while to recall a truly memorable performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto I've either heard as a recording or live performance. The finest recording I've heard until now was an absolutely rhapsodic, vibrant interpretation with the Beaux Arts Trio and Bernard Haitink conducting the London Philharmonic. However, this new Warner Classics recording is quite simply the most daring, exciting performance of the Beethoven Triple Concerto I have heard with graceful, lyrical playing from pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, coupled with fiery performances from cellist Clemens Hagen and violinist Thomas Zehetmair, which revel in the then novelty offered by Beethoven's composition when it was introduced in the early 1800s. Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in yet another spirited, dramatic performance of a Beethoven concerto without overwhelming the remarkable performances of these three splendid soloists. Without question, it is an excellent coda to the Aimard's Beethoven piano concerto cycle released earlier on Teldec, now Warner Classics. To their credit, both Aimard and the orchestra play the Rondo with ample gusto. Together, they offer yet another amazing performance in the Choral Fantasy, demonstrating that it too is a revolutionary work composed by Beethoven, and not merely, a rough sketch for his 9th Symphony's fourth movement. This splendid recording, blessed with exceptional sound quality, will please fans of Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. I strongly concur with The New York Times's assessment of this recording as among the finest classical music recordings of 2004.

In his cycle of Beethoven symphonies Harnonourt's conducting was aggressive, often aburpt, unnerving, and challenging to absorb. For some reason he drops all that in his recording of the Triple Concerto and Choral Fantasy. There have been excellent virtouoso readings of the Triple recently with Barenboim and Argerich as pianist. They show more intensity than this quiet-voiced, almost classical version. There's no doubt that the soloists, particularly Aimard, are wonderufl players, but it takes a while for the first movement to catch fire. Every time Aimard is given room to expand, he's brought back down to earth by the more restained Hagen on cello. (To the reviewers below who unanimously proclaim 'best ever,' I can only point to the unsurpassed version under Karajan with Richter, Oistrakh, and Rostropovich, a towering recording.)

In the Choral Fantasy there is an impassioned performance from Bernstein and Rudolf Serkin from the Sixties (Sony), as well as a fine one from Barenboim as both conductor and soloist, in concert with the Berlin Phil. on EMI. By comparison, Aimard is unusually cautious--he prefers restraint over the free-wheeling and totally thrilling spontaneity of Serkin. Harnoncourt remains just as restrained, so despite the all-around excellence of the performers, I can't see this one being anywhere near a first choice.

In sum, both readings fall somewhere in the middle of the pack but are enjoyable and more than competent in all espects. Fine recorded sound, by the way.

This recording is fabulous. It's rich, deep and colorful. The piano itself sounds absolutely wonderful. Its clarity and voice are exceptional. Unlike some recordings that sound as if the performers are very pleased with themselves, the performers in this recording sound as though they are playing for the sheer joy of playing and for the sake of the music and not for themselves. It's very refreshing. I first heard this broadcast on our Public Radio Classical station. It was so distinct and unique that I came right to Amazon and bought it. It resonates in your chest, it's so rich. Really outstanding!

A number of distinguishing features mark out this version of the Triple Concerto and make it one that stands out.

Harnoncourt's freedom of phrasing. Just try the opening theme, played by cellos and double basses. Everybody else takes it "in time", keeping a steady beat during the bars of silence that separate the elements of that opening theme; Not Harnoncourt. He slightly delays his beats, giving the impression that the opening phrases are freely sung - or rather, hummed, or even whispered - by the orchestra, in a quasi-improvisatory manner.

The clarity of the orchestra's inner voicing. Try the viola and cello triplets at 1:14; the various instrumental strands are always clearly heard, woodwinds usually not covered (there are spots though in the first movement where you won't hear them if you don't have the score to tell you that they are playing). The balance between the orchestra and the soloists is perfect.

There is nothing radical in Harnoncourt's choices of tempos, on the contrary: they are all middle-of-the-road and well within tradition. He takes an easy-going view (his first movement is more expansive than Karajan's for instance, Triple Concerto / Double Concerto), feeling very natural, genial, if not laid-back. He doesn't quite attain the sublime beauty of Karajan's time-suspended Largo, but this is something you hear only on comparative listening.

Another one of Harnoncourt's distinguishing marks, he can be robust in the tutti, with forceful horns and trumpets, which lends the music an added dynamism and muscularity. He offers a shrine in which the soloists' lyricism and playful interplay can freely unfold.

Said soloists are excellent. That's the norm in the recordings of this work, which has been honored by no less than Oistrakh-Knushevitzky-Oborin (Triple Violin Concerto), Oistrakh-Rostropovich-Richter, Stern-Rose-Istomin (Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 Triple Concertos - Essential Classics), Schneiderhan-Fournier-Anda (Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto), Laredo-Parnas-Serkin (Beethoven Triple Concerto/Brahms Double Concero: Serkin, Stern), Szeryng-Starker-Arrau (Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Choral Fantasy [Australia]), the Beaux Arts trio (Beethoven: Triple Concerto / Choral Fantasy). So it is nothing to particularly distinguish this version, but suffice to say that Aimard, Zehetmair and Hagen are second to none of the above mentioned, and can take pride of place in that stellar roster. Only in the the "magyar" passage starting at 5:08 in the finale do I find their phrasings to be on the verge of fusiness. But you can call it interpretive personality just as well.

Most people seem puzzled with Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, with its original version of a theme that will later become the main theme of the finale of the 9th Symphony, because it is so bizarrely constructed, a piano concerto of sorts but starting with a huge cadenza, and with a chorus (and six soloists) just standing there waiting for nearly fifteen minutes and singing three minutes (that's still shorter than in the 9th Symphony), with those tunes that seem to verge at times on the jauntily corny but are sometimes Beethoven at his most grandiose, martial and dramatic. I love the Choral Fantasy. Just consider that it is the missing link between the finale of Mozart's Magic Flute and the Choral movement of the 9th Symphony, Beethoven's hymn of faith in mankind and enlightenment, and it makes entire sense. And it is precisely its bizarre construction that I find so appealing, its absence of rules or rather, the fact that Beethoven has invented an ad-hoc set of rules, besides filling it with wonderfully imaginative touches of orchestration and echt-Beethovenian piano writing.

Harnoncourt pulls all those strands together quite convincingly with, again, choices of tempo that, at the beginning, seem to make this one a very traditional view, highlighting the reflexive and lyrical side of the composition rather than its jubilant atmosphere, and likewise with Aimard, who takes the customary, expansive and grandiose approach of the introductory cadenza (but why does he there legatoize Beethoven's staccato writing? Not only does it go against the letter of the score, but it isn't nearly as effective).

But in fact,it turns out that Harnoncourt hightights the contrasts rather than just one aspect of the piece: there is a rage to his Allegro molto (track 6 at 5:15) that makes it irresistibly "turkish"- Mozart's Entführung came to mind - and the Marcia (track 6 at 9:31) has great drive and military robustness. Harnoncourt has a great sextet of soloists and great chorus, although I find that, at his slightly held-back tempo, they lack the ultimate sense of jubilation.

On the surface there is nothing radical in these readings (although Harnoncourt's unique twists of conducting bring them distinctly out of the lot). For more daring views, you may want to go Zinman (Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Septet, Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5), but these have the true feel of classics. Although the booklet doesn't explicitly say so, these sound like live performance (or patched from), there are a few unobtrusive stage noises, especially at the beginning of the Triple Concerto. TT 64:22.

The first thing to note about the performance of the Triple Concerto is the sonic perspective. Harnoncourt divides the violins to left and right, with cellos slightly left of center, while the sound engineering places the piano trio in among the orchestra, rather than spotlighting the soloists. This technique is unusual among recordings of this piece. I have an LP of it with the Beaux Arts Trio and Bernard Haitink in which the trio someimes drowns out the orchestra. As for the performance, Harnoncourt's work is thrilling. This is probably the best conducted performance of the piece I've ever heard. The soloists don't match the Oistrakh-Richter-Rostropovich performance, but they are certainly very good. The Choral Fantasy is given an excellent performance overall. Once again, Harnoncourt's direction is vigorous and incisive, while Aimard shows that his earlier recording of Beethoven's Appasionata Sonata was no fluke. Aimard plays with vigor and imagination, and a big tone. There are certain bars in the piece where I prefer the interpretation of Rudolf Serkin with Leonard Bernstein, but this newer version loses very little in comparison with that classic reading. There have been excellent digital recordings of the Triple Concerto by the Eroica Trio and the Moscow Trio, but anyone wanting the current coupling need not hesitate.

After you listen to this recording, you will understand why Harnoncourt is one of the few Maestros alive. Do not loose the opportunity to re-discover and enjoy the Choral Fantasy. Listen to the Piano (Mr. Aimard) and the "conversation" among Piano, Orchestra (COE), Soloist, Singers and Choir (Arnold Schoenberg). This is Beethoven and Harnoncourt in a great performance.