John O'Conor's Beethoven is intriguing. Its lean textures, absence of fuss, disinclination for extremes of tempo, dynamic or temperamental display, seem to be negative virtues calculated to produce blandness. Yet they are so intelligently applied that one feels little or no craving for interpretative 'extras'. Indeed, going back to more obviously interpreted readings is liable to point up forced or unnatural qualities in the latter.
I entered Gilels's DG Waldstein as a selected comparison with some trepidation, fearing that it would totally overshadow O'Conor. Well, it does seem to me that Gilels's superior definition in the first movement and the profound calm of his adagio molto reveal more drama behind the notes. Yet O'Conor's first movement is arguably a truer allegro con brio, with an appropriate sense of flight rather than struggle; and his finale outshines Gilels in several ways, most notably in proving that Beethoven's pedal markings make inspired sense—this is preaching to the converted so far as I am concerned, but surprisingly few pianists seem to credit Beethoven with knowing what he was doing.
O'Conor does lose out, I feel, in the finale of the Tempest, adopting a comparatively narrow dynamic range and a rather fuzzy delineation of mood. Earlier on, though, he actually finds more storm and stress than the rather diffident Perahia on CBS and he certainly produces a beautiful dolce in the adagio. He does not make the common mistake of losing all sense of pulse in the first movement's largo punctuations, and the pedalled recitatives are super-sensitive.
Again in Les adieux O'Conor's semplice is just as revealing in its way as the darker shadings of Gilels, and his restrained launching of the first allegro makes even Perahia sound overly aggressive. As on his previous Beethoven record (which I reviewed in July 1987) O'Conor seems to bring out the connection with the first generation romantics, that is to say with Hummel, Weber and Mendelssohn. Whether or not this is intentional, I don't know, but given the current proliferation of Beethoven recordings I am convinced that there is room for such a view, especially when it is so persuasively presented. As on the previous issue Telarc's recording is first rate, although the acoustic of The Maltings, Snape is slightly too resonant to be ideal—some of the special pedal effects might have been even more convincing in a drier ambience.'