Exciting If Idiosyncratic Performances.
John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 09/03/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This CD provides excellent value for those wishing to know how the famous Dutch conductor and the orchestra he led for forty-six years performed Beethoven. Heard are exciting if idiosyncratic performances which derive not from broadcasts but from commercial recordings made in the 1930s. Unexpected changes in tempi and dynamics are encountered, changes which Mengelberg would explain by saying, "I am the best pupil of Beethoven's best pupil, so don't argue with me". As with all the Magic Talent CDs I have heard, the quality of the transfers is top class. Occasionally, however, the person depicted on the front cover of the CDs in this series is not the featured artist. It is not a picture of Mengelberg that you will find on the front of this one."