Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Alexander Gibson, London Voices :: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 6; Choral Fantasy; Rondo in B flat

From the review in Fanfare

Record Collector | Mons, Belgium | 12/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Beethoven's Sixth Piano Concerto is an arrangement by the composer himself of his violin concerto. There have been comparatively few recordings; Pollini, Barenboim, and Artur Balsam among others took the work into the studio during the analogue era. For purposes of comparison and because it is not identical o the Violin Concerto, this music is well worth exploring, and this new recording is on all counts the one to have. Spada realizes the piece beautifully, and Gibson elicits fine playing from the Philharmonia. The digital sound is warm and all-encompassing. We may now safely retire our older recordings in favor of this outstanding version.



"The appeal of this disc is further enhanced by its inclusion of an equally fine performance of the Rondo in B flat, the first recording I have seen of the fragmentary work (its solo part was completed by Czerny) that was originally to have been the finale of the Piano Concerto in B flat (published as Piano Concerto No. 2). Here, too, this recording is worthwhile both for the sake of the music itself and for purposes of comparison with the third movement Beethoven eventually replaced it with.



"Last but not least, this generously filled CD ends with a noteworthy rendition of the Choral Fantasy. Despite the heavy competition in this music (Dorfmann with Toscanini, Brendel, Kissin with Abbado, Serkin, Ashkenazy, and Ax among others), Spada's version is on a par with the best of these and includes far more unusual couplings."

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