Anton Kuerti Plays Beethoven's Piano Concertos
Posted by: Todd A on 14 September 2008
A few years ago I bought Anton Kuerti’s 1970s Beethoven sonata cycle and was decidedly turned off by what I heard. A few sonatas struck me as very well done, and the Op 31/1 is among the best I’ve heard. But most of the sonatas are too slow, too idiosyncratic, and just not much fun to listen to. Sure, Kuerti can play. I just didn’t like the set. But some time passed and I figured I should try Kuerti in something else. So I sampled his Brahms, namely the concertos and a few late works. Much better. Indeed, his recording of the concertos ranks among my favorites. I went back to some Beethoven in a live recording from the 80s. Much, much better than before. Then I sampled his solo Schumann. Jackpot again. Then his Schubert. Same thing. And now the good folks at the CBC decided to reissue his 1986 Beethoven concerto cycle with Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Another jackpot.
I’ll start with the first concerto: Kuerti sweeps the board. This is almost certainly the best recording I’ve ever heard of this work. And that includes Schnabel’s über-masterly recording with Malcolm Sargent. (I’m going to have to do a head-to-head to make sure.) Every aspect of this concerto is well nigh perfect. Throughout, Kuerti and Davis keep the energy level high and the histrionics low. This is classical era Beethoven, not Storming the Heavens Beethoven. Kuerti’s playing is light, fast, articulate, and precise. His take on the first movement cadenza is dazzling and sparkling and the very height of virtuosity – in the best possible sense. His control and speed are almost too good to be true. Okay, maybe the slow movement doesn’t plumb the depths, but this is the C major concerto – it doesn’t have to. Davis’ support is in perfect accord with the soloist.
The B flat concerto doesn’t fare quite as well. It’s merely among the best I’ve heard. Everything I wrote about the first concerto applies here, too. It’s really only in the C minor where things slip, from breathtakingly great to merely great. The piece is darker, as it should be, and richer. Still, Kuerti’s clear, slightly cutting, noticeably metallic sound keeps it from becoming too dark and stormy. The energy and clarity and drive, and finger snappin’ rhythm displayed in the first two concertos remains intact. Here is where the heaviest of the Beethoven heavyweights really start delivering the goods – Annie, Serkin, Pollini, et al – but Kuerti withstands direct comparisons. No, he does not displace my favorites here, and he seems to keep the piece a bit too “early” sounding, if you will, but there’s much to enjoy.
The last two concertos reveal Kuerti’s personality more clearly. The G major is long, slow, beautiful, with the slower, more delicate passages really showing what Kuerti can do. Even though I generally didn’t like his sonata cycle, one thing I couldn’t help but notice is his ability to play at the lower end of the spectrum with nuance and shading that most pianists never seem to achieve. It’s here in spades, whether one considers the gentler, accompanying passages in the opening movement, or the extended solo part in the second, which here sounds darn close to a serenade. The mighty Emperor sounds grand and muscular and showy, yes, but here Kuerti tinkers around, too. Accelerating here, stopping quickly there, he definitely tinkers. But it’s more restrained than in the sonatas, and it mostly works very well.
Overall, Kuerti keeps his worst excesses under control and delivers superb readings of all of the concertos, and even the Choral Fantasy comes off well. What more could one ask for? Good sound, and that’s what’s on offer. This early digital recording does have a bit of glare, especially in the Fantasy, and certainly doesn’t measure up to the best contemporary recordings, but the sound is more than acceptable. Kuerti’s sound is lean and metallic, and the orchestral sound is definitely a bit on the thin side, but that works in the context of these performances.
Everything considered, this is one of the best complete cycles I’ve ever heard and is most certainly among my purchases of the year.
If anyone is interested in buying it, I’d recommend buying it directly from the CBC at CBC Shop. It’s only twenty loonies, with reasonable shipping. (I’ve seen the price as high as $50 new.) And perhaps consider Kuerti’s Schumann concerto. I did, but that’s another subject.
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