Customer Reviews

Delius: Piano Concerto / Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24, K.491 / Beethoven: Fantasia for Piano, Chorus & Orchestra, Op. 80

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In England, which is nothing if not loyal to its own, Sir Clifford Curzon is a keyboard god on the order of his teacher, Artur Schnabel. His reputation makes tis collection a prize even though it begins with Dekus's turgid, hollow Piano Concerto, which proceeds like Schumann written for Anglicans when it isn't spinning out long shapeless lyrical lines while the piano bombards us with sweeping arpeggios. The performance dates from Sept. 1981, the year before Curzon died. The BBC's engineer's put the orchestra much too far back -- the concertmaster's solos are distant squeaks -- and the piano isn't well recorded for tone, the top octave sounding tinkly and the rest hollow. Not that these would be serious obstacles if you are a true believer in Delius. At least the score attempts a kind of visceral excitement a la Bax and Bantock.

We are on finer ground with the sublime Mozart C minor Piano Cto. K. 491, of which Curzon made other recordings, both studio and live. The source is a November, 1979 concert with much better orchestral sound and a good piano; this could be mistaken for a studio recording if it weren't for a veil of noticeable tape hiss. Curzon approached Mozart as a romantic, and Bernard Haitink, who was ending his twelve-year tenure as music director of the London Phl., leads in the same vein. This is luscious but not lush Mozart, and although the measured, pearly playing would be poison to the HIP contingent, this is a reading at a high level of musicality. Much as I enjoyed it, I will concede that the finale, marked Allegretto, is taken at too relaxed a pace.

Also under Haitink comes a Jan. 1970 performance of the then rarely heard Choral Fantasy of Beethoven. It's a work that critics still sniff at, calling it a pastiche that served as a trial run for the Ninth Sym., but pianists have always loved being able to show off in it -- we hear what Beethoven himself might have sounded like improvising at the keyboard. Rudolph Serkin, followed at a latter day by Martha Argerich, gave the freest, most impassioned solo account, whatever the orchestra and chorus might be like. But the often mellow Curzon launched himself into the solo part impressively. He doesn't ounce with the attack of a Serkin, but the right exuberance and spontaneity is there. Too bad the microphone shatters when he hits big fortissimo chords, but if you don't mind sonic limitations, this is well worth hearing, and the London Phil. doesn't hold back, either. The chorus does very well in the home stretch, taking their melody from the finale of the Ninth; unusually, the solo quartet is replaced by eight singers form the chorus. My copy is a download, but to me this performance sounds like mono, or at best primitive stereo, and microphone distortion should be taken into account, as I mentioned.

For the budget conscious, this 77 min. program contains an hour's worth of music even if you completely discount the Delius concerto, a 15-minute work played as one movement. If you love the Delius, there is nothing but pleasure from beginning to end.