Beethoven - Complete Piano Concertos - Warner Classics: 7633602 - download

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most memorably in London in the 1950s with Claudio Arrau but his decision to record the piano concertos at the age of 82 came as a result of his admiration for the most precociously talented... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: 7633602
Label: Warner Classics
Length: 3 hours 30 minutes

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

Work length38:55

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1967-10-28
Recording Venue: 11, 14 & 28 October 1967: Abbey Road Studios

I. Allegro con brio

Track length16:15

Album only

II. Largo

Track length13:13

Album only

III. Rondo (Allegro scherzando)

Track length9:27

$1.30

$1.70

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 19

Work length30:24

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1967-11-04
Recording Venue: 3-4 November 1967 / No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road

I. Allegro con brio

Track length14:38

Album only

II. Adagio

Track length9:43

$1.30

$1.70

III. Rondo (molto allegro)

Track length6:03

$1.30

$1.70

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Work length39:40

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1967-10-11
Recording Venue: 10-11 October 1967 / No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

I. Allegro con brio

Track length18:53

Album only

II. Largo

Track length10:52

Album only

III. Rondo (Allegro - Presto)

Track length9:55

$1.30

$1.70

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Work length37:35

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1967-10-10
Recording Venue: 9-10 October 1967 / No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road

I. Allegro moderato

Track length20:49

Album only

II. Andante con moto

Track length5:46

$1.30

$1.70

III. Rondo (Vivace)

Track length11:00

Album only

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor'

Work length42:54

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1967-10-09
Recording Venue: 4-5 & 9 October 1967 / No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

I. Allegro

Track length22:52

Album only

II. Adagio un poco mosso

Track length8:58

$1.30

$1.70

III. Rondo (Allegro)

Track length11:04

Album only

Beethoven: Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 80

Work length21:00

Album only

Daniel Barenboim (piano)
John Alldis Choir, New Philharmonia Orchestra
Otto Klemperer
Recorded: 1968-06-01
Recording Venue: November 1967 & June 1968, Abbey Road Studios

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Reviews

2010

most memorably in London in the 1950s with Claudio Arrau but his decision to record the piano concertos at the age of 82 came as a result of his admiration for the most precociously talented of all young Beethoven pianists at the time, Daniel Barenboim. Barenboim was 25 and about to embark on what was to be an exceptionally fine cycle of the Beethoven piano sonatas.
He was steeped in Beethoven and perhaps peculiarly well suited to the concertos which, we should not forget, are essentially a young man's music. It was a fascinating pairing, Klemperer and Barenboim contrasted in age and to some extent in temperament but at the same time symbiotically at one musically. Had this not been the case, Barenboim would have been swamped, lost in the wash of Klemperer's accompaniments which deliver the orchestral argument and the orchestral detail with an articulacy and authority unique in the history of these works on record.
The performance of the B flat Concerto, the first historically if not numerically, is a typical joy, full of fire and grace and unstoppably vital.
Given Klemperer's propensity for taking slow tempos in Beethoven, you might imagine him being taken for a ride by the young Barenboim in the B flat and C major finales. But not a bit of it. It's Klemperer, as much as his youthful soloist, who seems to be the driving force here.
Rarely on record has the slow movement of the C major Concerto been played with so natural a sense of concentrated calm, the whole thing profoundly collected on the spiritual plane. One of the joys of the Barenboim/Klemperer cycle is its occasional unpredictability: rock-solid readings that none the less incorporate a sense of 'today we try it this way'.
Ensemble is mostly first rate during the cycle.
The tricky coda of the first movement of the C minor Concerto is both rapt and dramatic.
But in the coda of the first movement of the G major there's little doubt that Klemperer drags the pulse. And elsewhere there are some occasionally awkward adjustments to be made between soloist and orchestra. At the time of its initial appearance, the Emperor performance was generally adjudged a success. Again it's broadly conceived. At first the finale seems a little staid; but later the 6/8 rhythms are made to dance and the performance has a burning energy by the end. So does the account of the Choral Fantasia.
Given Klemperer's magisterial style and authority, this set could have emerged as five symphonies with piano obbligato. In fact, it's a set of rare authority and spontaneity, and given the slightly unconventional idea of the soloist as primus inter pares, it's probably unique.

Beethoven - Complete Piano Concertos

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