Books, Arts & Manners: Beethoven, Brahms & Others

Roger Norrington and Melvyn Tan have given us the first two Beethoven concertos and now we have their No. 3 in C Minor and No. 4 in G Major. What is significant about these recordings is 1) Norrington’s interpretation and 2) the use of a fortepiano instead of the pianoforte employed in most performances. Norrington, through his seating of the orchestra as it was in Beethoven’s day and use of instruments contemporary to the time, gives us new apperceptions of Beethoven. The piano Tan plays, a copy of an instrument made in the early nineteenth century—with a wood rather than metal frame, thinner strings, and a Viennese action—is warmer, more subtle, and less at odds with the full orchestra. The fortepiano, moreover, is a more supple instrument than the pianoforte, more faithfully delineating Beethoven’s intent. And there is in this version, as there is always in any Norrington performance, an exciting freshness (Angel/ EMI CD 7 49815 2).

Over the years I have worn through copies of the LP Violin Concerto in D Major of Beethoven, suffering Leonard Bernstein in order to have Isaac Stern. The clean beauty of Stern’s playing, the perfection of his fingering and bowing, made each playing a living experience. Now we have a CD of the concerto by Itzhak Perlman with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Daniel Barenboim. As a soloist, though on piano, Barenboim is sensitive to the competition and interplay between orchestra and solo instrument in a concerto. He also has the muscle that Bernstein simply lacks. Perlman does not have the mastery of Stern, but he brings to his playing a strength and an élan, a kind of muscular sensitivity, that is equally fit for a recital of Beethoven’s vibrant score (Angel/EMI CDC 7 49567 2).

RT

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Ralph de Toledano

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Roger Norrington and Melvyn Tan have given us the first two Beethoven concertos and now we have their No. 3 in C Minor and No. 4 in G Major. What is significant about these recordings is 1) Norrington’s interpretation and 2) the use of a fortepiano instead of the pianoforte employed in most performances. Norrington, through his seating of the orchestra as it was in Beethoven’s day and use of instruments contemporary to the time, gives us new apperceptions of Beethoven. The piano Tan plays, a copy of an instrument made in the early nineteenth century—with a wood rather than metal frame, thinner strings, and a Viennese action—is warmer, more subtle, and less at odds with the full orchestra. The fortepiano, moreover, is a more supple instrument than the pianoforte, more faithfully delineating Beethoven’s intent. And there is in this version, as there is always in any Norrington performance, an exciting freshness (Angel/ EMI CD 7 49815 2).

Over the years I have worn through copies of the LP Violin Concerto in D Major of Beethoven, suffering Leonard Bernstein in order to have Isaac Stern. The clean beauty of Stern’s playing, the perfection of his fingering and bowing, made each playing a living experience. Now we have a CD of the concerto by Itzhak Perlman with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Daniel Barenboim. As a soloist, though on piano, Barenboim is sensitive to the competition and interplay between orchestra and solo instrument in a concerto. He also has the muscle that Bernstein simply lacks. Perlman does not have the mastery of Stern, but he brings to his playing a strength and an élan, a kind of muscular sensitivity, that is equally fit for a recital of Beethoven’s vibrant score (Angel/EMI CDC 7 49567 2).