beethoven piano concerto

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.

A Wilhelm Backhaus set of remastered recordings is available on the Andante label. Also, this looks good;

Release Date: 01/02/2011
Label: Bis Catalog #: 1758
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer: Yevgeny Sudbin
Conductor: Osmo Vänskä
Orchestra/Ensemble: Minnesota Orchestra

HDTracks has released 48/24 versions of the piano concertos by Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin from Decca. They also have the 9 symphonies at 96/24 from Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Anyone have experience with these versions? These are new Decca releases as part of their Beethoven form All series. The Sonatas are scheduled to come out this Fall.

For rare live recording releases (all in mono) of Beethoven's piano concerto No.4, my collections include

1. Edwin Fischer / Eugen Jochum / Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian. It is recorded on November 8 1951. The old Fischer (66 years old then) showed his energetic interpretation. (Orfeo C 270 921 B)

2. Claudio Arrau / Otto Klemperer / Philharmonic Orchestra. It is recorded on November 3 1957. The weight Klemperer presented in this recording demonstrated his unique reading. Arrau's delicate touch of keyboard just show the subtle perspective of this piece (Testament SBT2 1351)

3. Friedrich Gulda / Vienna Symphony Orchestra. It is recorded on January 21 1953. Young (22 years old) Gulda performed this concerto without conductor. It probably more closely reflects Beethoven's youthfulness (Orfero C 745 071 B)

Happy Listening.

Otto