Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano; Chamber Orchestra of
Europe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conducting.
Teldec Classics 73342-2
| Musical Performance |
  |
| Recording Quality |
|
| Overall Enjoyment |
|
 If you're like me, you may
well be asking yourself if you need another recording of the Beethoven piano
concertos. This, of course, is precisely the attitude that's killing the classical record
industry. That's the industry's fault, naturally, since it has released so many ho-hum
performances of the basic repertoire.
How many copies of the same 100 works do we need?
Some people would argue that they need no more than one per
composition, but I can’t agree with them. Stephen Bishop-Kossevich's fabulous
readings of these works deserve all the praise they've garnered over the years, but I'd
hate to have to forego those of Brendel, or Kempff, or Ashkenazy -- not to mention
Rubinstein or Backhaus. Hearing great artists really grapple with an immortal work can
make you relate to it in a new and different way.
And that's the problem, of course. There are far more
recordings of the core compositions than there are new approaches to them.
Pairing Nikolaus Harnoncourt, best known for his
revolutionary interpretations of baroque music, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, equally
notorious for his readings of Boulez, Ligeti, and Messiaen, manages to find a new
route into these familiar works -- so much so that this new recording is worthy of
comparison with any of my favorites.
And what is it that they bring to these concertos? Passion,
first and foremost.
To some extent, that may be because these pieces were
recorded "in performance." Don't worry, there's not a lot of audience noise --
coughing, or jewelry jangling -- but neither do these readings have that flawless,
"created in the editing suite" sheen of most studio recordings these days. You
can feel the edge that only comes from facing an audience and having to soldier on through
your mistakes.
As if! What Aimard and Harnoncourt give us is an intensely
dramatic interpretation that is also polished and, dare I say, filled with good humor.
Did I say humor? Well, sh'yeah! Beethoven isn't
exactly known as full of yuks, but he wasn't all Sturm und Drang, you know. The
first three concertos are charming and, in places, whimsical -- qualities you'd never
suspect from most interpretations. Aimard, Harnoncourt, and the ECO give these works all
the polish they deserve; seldom has Beethoven's debt to Haydn been so apparent.
Which emphatically does not mean that the Fourth and
Fifth Concertos are less intense than they should be -- no sirree, Bob! -- only that they
have less of the sound of surprise. Those two concertos certainly have their moments,
glorious ones, but the competition in the Fourth and Fifth is pretty darn fierce.
Even so, Aimard takes us through some unexpected territory
in those works, and Harnoncourt and the ECO support him with great delicacy and reserved
power. As always, that slight bit of understatement simply underscores the powerful
emotions of the writing itself -- and that might be the biggest surprise of the
set. Apparently, there are still volumes left in the slightest lift of the eyebrow and
tilt of the head.
The set sounds great, too. The acoustic is bright and
detailed, but never harsh. As is contemporary custom, the piano is more closely miked than
I'd like, but that's just my taste -- most people would find the piano sound I
prefer too distant. On the whole, this is sophisticated sound that sets the bar high for
any who dare to follow.
Come to think of it, that could be said of every aspect of
these engaging interpretations.
Who needs another set of the Beethoven piano
concertos? I certainly need this one -- and if you love music, gutsy music making,
or these works, you do, too. This set leaps to the head of the queue.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
|
