beethoven piano concerto

i'd also highly recommend Wilhelm Kempff/Paul van Kempen/BPO (DGG 1957) for LvB's Piano Concerto cycle. it's another mono recording (as Gilels/Ludwig/Philharmonia Orchestra), but the performance is simply spectacular.

I have the Kovacevich version, and while the performance is truly great and it is a very good recording, it still sounds a little bit like its age. I am also looking for a newer version at that level of performance or better, but that is audiophile quality on CD.

try Rudolf Serkin/Rafael Kubelik/Bayerishchen Rundfunks LvB piano concerto cycle (Orfeo 1977). nice (stereo) sonics & performance (but not as special as my other 2 recommendations).

other LvB piano concertos cycles which aren't quite as "moving" (for me) include Maurizio Pollini/Claudio Abbado/BPO (DGG 1992/1993), Vladimir Ashkenazy/Georg Solti/CSO (Decca 1995). also hv a bunch of other "non-full-cycle" of LvB's piano concerto recordings (on LP & CD).

Helene Grimaud did a nice Beethoven record. I can't search all of them but the Andante record label had a number of great Beethoven piano concerto recordings, most of which are historical. Andante unfortunately went out of business due to their esoteric nature and their expensive price tag. Be it to say however that the 3 and 4 disc packages were full of well written articles, notes, highlights, etc.. and that the remastering from original source tapes were second to none.

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned the performances played by Claudio Arrau with Bernard Haitink conducted the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. I've listened to most recordings played by many well-known pianists but those mentioned performances were always my favorites.

If you're interested in the 4th piano concerto, you may want check out the performance by Wilhelm Backhaus with Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.