Beethoven Piano Concerto 4 & Variations
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 5/1987
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 416 144-4PH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Colin Davis, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Staatskapelle Dresden |
(32) Variations on an Original Theme |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 5/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 416 144-1PH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Colin Davis, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Staatskapelle Dresden |
(32) Variations on an Original Theme |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Composer or Director: Ludwig van Beethoven
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 5/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 416 144-2PH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Colin Davis, Conductor Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer Staatskapelle Dresden |
(32) Variations on an Original Theme |
Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
Claudio Arrau, Piano Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer |
Author: Richard Osborne
The Fourth Piano Concerto is nearest to the Variations in the finale which Arrau plays less fiercely than he was wont to do; but, then, the entire work is treated more spaciously than it was when he recorded it with Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra for Philips (now deleted) in the 1960s. (Not his only earlier recording, of course: there were recordings with Galliera for Columbia and with Bernstein for DG before this latest one.) The new spaciousness is evidently to do with Arrau's own late mood and the presence of the Staatskapelle, Dresden playing at their luminous and lucid best under Sir Colin Davis. (Listening to the strings' answer to the piano's opening phrases one recognizes that these are not journeymen musicians but master craftsmen imbued with a corporate vision of an ancient ideal.)
Arrau has never treated the notes of the solo part of this concerto like so much spun gossamer; there is nothing here of the 'fineness' of a Solomon or a Gilels (EMI) or a Perahia (CBS). For Arrau the first movement is a sad piece, Liszt's analogy with the Orpheus legend seen by Arrau as an insight into the nature of the whole concerto, not merely to the second movement alone. Once or twice you might think Arrau a little flat-footed in his progress through the passage-work; but to allow this or the occasional movement of rhythmic instability (the lead to the first movement development is a case in point) to deter you is to miss the larger achievement, an achievement which is revealed much more clearly in this new Davis performance than it was in the Haitink. Haitink did not, for instance, breathe with his soloist in the great arching B flat subject (first movement, bar 105) as Davis does; and it is the very pacing and phrasing of this new performance which gives it its lofty, far-seeing character. It is not the only way to treat the concerto but it is, by any standards, a distinguished reading by soloist, conductor and orchestra alike. I should add that Arrau plays Beethoven's own long first cadenza in the first movement (plays it magisterially with sudden intrusions of something akin to anger) and that the recording is one of Philips's best.'
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