Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Lazlo Somogyi, Vienna State Opera Orchestra :: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3

A golden finding!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 08/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Maybe a pure casualty, but something inside me tells me is not; Barenboim recorded this superb Concerto at the same age Beethoven composed it (22). Let me tell you the majuscule astonishment experienced when this listener heard about it the last Sunday. It's surprisingly admirable the impressive sense of total domain of this score for a man so young. He understood the essential core of this Op. with majestic intensity; moreover Daniel seemed to ensoul to a Concerto o many times played but few times entirely understood. The epic gesture, the struggling path, the infinite noblesse expressed in this cosmic Adagio and that indeclinable and untamed Promethean spirit are superbly expressed along the way.



Of course don' t expect any close romantic approach around it. To my mind there are six unbeatable versions of this piece, (and this one of them) , the other five would be Ivan Moravec, Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic (my favorite choice, by far), a legendary version of Wilhelm Kempff from the fifties under Van Kempen conduction (my second choice), a monumental performance of Marguerite Long with the Paris Conservatoire under Felix Weingartner baton recorded in June 10 1939, label Koch (3-7128-2 H1) , a revealing performance with Andrei Gavrilov under Yuri Termirkanov with the State Symphony Orchestra recorded on 28 December 1981 and the well reminded performance of Arthur Rubinstein under Arturo Toscanini conduction in the forties. I have them all and frequently use to compare distinct aspects of the interpretation with fellow friends.



But additionally there is more; Barenboim shone with this admirable version of the Coral Fantasy, a solid Op. of Beethoven unfairly few recorded and less played.



So please don' t hesitate and go for this record. It will reward you.





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Brilliant Beethoven from Barenboim

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 05/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The return of some of the classic recordings from the Westminster label to the DG/Universal catalog over the last few years has been quite welcome. This CD finds a young Daniel Barenboim doing what he does best -- sitting on the piano bench instead of standing at the podium. Here he plays magnificently with Laszlo Somogyi and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra on Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Choral Fantasy. Interestingly, Barenboim would record these same works again in a couple of years (along with all the piano concertos) with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra for EMI. Both recordings are well worth having (though you can only get the EMI Emporer and Choral Fantasy as a single disc -- to get the other Klemp/Barenboim EMI performances you must buy the box set of the symphonies and concertos), and should be preferred hands down to Barenboim's Beethoven Concerto recordings on EMI Seraphim."