Triple Concerto.....Mutter? Yo-Yo Ma? Perfect!
06/11/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Recording of the Triple Concerto is soundwise, very good. Performance is superb! This is one of my absolute favorites...if you have not heard it, you are missing a great piece of work! Highly recommended! There is also another recording of this out with Karajan and the BPO with Rostopovich, Richter, and Oistrakh...also a fabulous recording...I have both. If I was stuck with just a couple of CD's on a desert island (with a lot of batteries), this would be one of them."
A delightful, fresh Triple Concerto
Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"To settle the dispute over dating this CD, the three overtures were taken from much earlier sessions (1965-70) to fill out the 1980 Triple Concerto. Karajan led a blockbuster version of this work with the incomparable trio of Richter, Oistrakh, and Rostropovich (on EMI), so it was an audacious move to try and repeat the feat. He was wise to spotlight three young soloists rather than grand lions. Yo-Yo Ma and Anne-Sophie Mutter went on to great fame, of course, and they overshadow the now-forgotten Mark Zeltser, but he's light, bright, and sparkling, as is the performance as a whole. (Strangely, however, Ma has some intonation problems that mar the first movement.) Karajan lightens his accompaniment from the earlier version and takes faster tempi. I've heard other readings with a more heroic trio of soloists, but the presence of a great Beethoven conductor and the wonderful Berlin Phil. is a major asset here.
I'm a bit less happy with the three overtures. All are played on a grand scale, particularly the earth-shattering Egmont, which comes off best. The Coriolan sounds majestic but feels emotionally inert to me, with Karajan attempting to prettify the great development section, and the Fidelio Over. is rather too grand and foursquare. All are magnificently played, needless to say. I am giving five stars to the Triple Concerto and perhaps the Egmont Over. in a pinch."