Another Naxos Must-Buy

Posted by: Todd A on 29 May 2001

Artur Schnabel playing Beethoven's 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos with the LSO & LPO under Malcom Sargent, with a recording of Fur Elise thrown in, too! A Naxos Historical winner, to be sure.

For those of you not already salivating and counting your pennies to buy this gem, allow me to elaborate slightly. These are 1932 and 1935 HMV recordings, lovingly and expertly restored. The sound is indeed 70 years old, though it is quite remarkable, really. Sure it lacks great detail and clarity, and the loud passages harden up something fierce, but that is all insignificant compared to what is there.

And what's there is Schnabel's playing. Tremendous. Stupendous. Leagues ahead of many contemporary players, though not all contemporary players. Since these are "light" Beethoven concertos, the mood and playing suit the music perfectly. The finale to the first concerto is especially becoming. And then there's the second. Well, you get the idea. I could rave some more but I won't. Fortunately, the piano sound is the best captured element in the disc.

Anyway, for Beethoven aficionados and historical recording collectors, my highest possible recommendation. For everyone else, my highest possible recommendation.

Now all I have to do is wait for Walter Gieseking's rendition of the 4th and 5th Concertos due out any day. I've got the six bucks all ready.

Posted on: 29 May 2001 by Cheese

You can already spend your six bucks on Schnabel's Beethoven Sonata Nr. 30 Opus 109 on EMI. Beethoven as God planned it.

Funny also that there are other people than I who are impressed by Gieseking's Beethoven. Indeed, it seems to be a sin to listen to Gieseking if it's anything else than Debussy or Mozart! I remember having (years ago) heard a 1944 (stereo, as the moderator said !!) recording of the Emperor. The freshness and emphasis of Gieseking's playing can IMO be compared to nothing else. What adds to the magic is the fact that you can hear the bombs over Berlin during the recording ...

Cheese - may all beings be happy

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by Edot

Todd

I highly recommend you check out Gilels/Ludwig on the Testament label. It's my top pick - stunning.

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by Todd A

Ed and Cheese (if that is indeed your real name), STOP! You offer such aurally delicious alternatives that I may have to break my piggy bank.

I must write that I will buy the entire Schnabel set of Beethoven's sonatas. And Gieseking and Gilels doing the Emporer? How much wonderful music can one man take? I, unfortunately, may have no choice but to buy them . . .

Oh, I noticed on the Naxos web-site that they are releasing Beethoven's 3rd and 4th concertos as rendered by the Schnabel / Sargent tandem. The Emporer cannot be far behind. That's another twelve smackers . . .

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by Cheese

Probably the most often recorded piano concerto of all time.

The trouble about that: Todd, you HAVE to listen to the other historical recordings of the work, a few of them are by

Gilels/Ludwig,
Gilels/Reiner,
Kempff/van Kempen,
Kempff/Leitner,
Backhaus/Krauss,
Arrau/Davis,
Fischer/Furtwängler,
Fischer/Böhm,
Katchen/Gamba,
Michelangeli/Giulini,
Schnabel/Sargent,
Gieseking/don't know who
Curzon/Knappertsbusch,
and...and...and... Phew ! Lots of broken piggies.

But: there's no Lipatti/Furtwängler. That would have reduced all other interpretations to nice achievements made by promising talents.

Cheese - may all beings be happy

Posted on: 01 June 2001 by Todd A

quote:
But: there's no Lipatti/Furtwängler. That would have reduced all other interpretations to nice achievements made by promising talents.

You write only truth.

Posted on: 03 June 2001 by Peter Litwack

How about Glenn Gould/Leopold Stokowski?

Posted on: 03 June 2001 by Cheese

I own the recording, I bought it because I've been a fan of Gould for 20 years, but to be honest I think the interpretation is more "weird" and "interesting for collectors" than actually good.

Sure, you may like Stokowski's technicolor accompaniment, but other people did it better.

Gould's piano part is, well, strange - he takes his own liberties and sometimes doesn't follow the score at all, turning some chords into arpeggios !!! The intro alone might be a reason for many listeners to take the disc out of the player and to forget about it. And, of course, Gould had the nasty habit to drastically slow down the tempi of all romantic composers (he disliked them anyway).

It's still fun to listen to it once, but IMO it gets boring after a few minutes.

BTW, recently I heard the Emperor played by Brendel/Rattle. At first I thought "well, another useless recording of the Beethoven concertos" but I was terribly wrong - Brendel still has something to say and Rattle has certainly earned his job at the Berlin Philharmonic. If I were to buy a good (and recent) 5-concerto-pack, I'd go for that one.

Cheese - may all beings be happy