From: rtut@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Raymond Tuttle)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Zimerman/Bernstein - Beethoven Piano Concertos - review
Date: 8 Jan 93 01:05:28 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

A project which remained unfinished at the time of Leonard Bernstein's
death was a recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Beethoven's
complete piano concertos with soloist Krystian Zimerman.  Bernstein
and Zimerman had made "live" recordings of the Third, Fourth and Fifth
Concertos with the Vienna Philharmonic in September 1989, but the
first two concertos remained unrecorded until the end of 1991 when
Zimerman completed the set, conducting from the keyboard, and
providing a loving tribute to the man he had collaborated with on many
previous occasions (435 467, 3 CDs). 

Looking at Bernstein's previous recordings of some of these works, we
see pianists as wildly different as Glenn Gould and Rudolf Serkin.  In
some ways, Zimerman is a good compromise between these two
extremes, melding Gould's youthful exuberance, perceptive iconoclasm
and precise fingerwork with the elder statesman Serkin's eloquent
simplicity.   

The rapport between Bernstein and Zimerman is so great that it would
be difficult to tell where one left off and the other continued if DG had
not told us so.  Zimerman's direction of the first two concertos is  done
in perfect Lenny style: virile, swaggering and infused with joy and love
for the music.  Even the occasional overly vehement accent seems to
come as much from the old maestro as it does from the young pianist. 
If the last three concertos are even more enjoyable than the first two,
then it is difficult to know whether to credit this to Bernstein or to
Beethoven himself. 

It is surely part of Bernstein's genius that he can take an overplayed
work like the "Emperor" Concerto and make it sound new and exciting by
simply inspiring his musicians to play the music as if it were really
crucial to them, without resorting to self-indulgent tricks and 
distortions.  The other concertos are similarly successful; this is
music-making that communicates instead of merely filling a
contractual obligation. 

There are few sets of the complete Beethoven piano concertos which
stick in the mind, and almost none from the present digital era.  This
Zimerman/Bernstein set bids fair to be the first memorable "integrale"
in a very long time.  It stands on the same level as Fleisher/Szell (now
on SONY) but it is much better recorded.  The only regret is that there
is no Choral Fantasy (but Fleisher/Szell omitted that elusive work too). 

Another DG release featuring Bernstein, Beethoven and the Vienna
Philharmonic couples a previously released live performance of the
String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 131, with a live 1989 recording of
the Op. 135 Quartet in F (435 779).  Lest we are tempted to stick our
noses up at these tamperings with the sacred texts, let us remember
that conductors like Dimitri Mitropoulos and Arturo Toscanini also
played transcriptions for string orchestra of Beethoven quartets. 

Listening to  these "Honey, I Blew up the Quartets" is like being
transported to another dimension where the terrain is somewhat
familiar but where the objects have taken on strange proportions.  The
intimacy of the string quartet medium is replaced by depth and weight
which remind me more of Bruckner than Beethoven in the elegiac slow
movements.  The 5th movement Presto of Op. 131 is one of Beethoven's
best jokes; here, as played by the VPO's massed strings, it sounds
almost neurotic. 

With a lesser orchestra, these versions might not have worked so well,
but the precision and tonal richness of the VPO's strings are
astonishing.  Bernstein clearly had great affection for these readings,
so much so that he dedicated the recording of Op. 131 to his late wife. 
The playing is always impressive and frequently eloquent.  The earlier
ADD recording of Op. 131 sounds marginally more open than that of the
DDD Op. 135, but both sound fine.  Weird fun, although you'll probably
run back to the string quartet originals for solace. 




--
****************************************   Raymond S. Tuttle
"Dunkel ist das Leben, ist der Tod,"       University of Rochester
but it's nothing to get depressed about!   (still with his two little 
****************************************   white mice).
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical