Great Recordings Of The Century - Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Oistrakh,...

Great Recordings Of The Century - Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Oistrakh, ... | Mstislav Rostropovich, Ludwig van Beethoven, ... | Brahms - Double Concerto

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Great Recordings O...

	Great Recordings Of The Century - Beethoven: Triple Concerto; Brahms: Double Concerto / Oistrakh, ... Mstislav Rostropovich, Ludwig van Beethoven, ... EMI Classics, 1999 average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A blazing Triple Concerto, and that's saying something

The Beethoven on this CD is a one-off, featuring three titans of Russian music. Richter hated Karajan and had lots of nasty things to say about playing under him on this occasion. You'd never know it. The Triple Concerto, thanks to its three solo parts, can sound ungainly and a bit of a throwback to concertante style in Haydn's day, but here there is a magical blending of fiery virtuosos, each out to prove to us that his part belongs to a masterpiece. Karajan's initial tmpo is a bit slow, but this pays off in the astonishing detail and interplay among the soloists. Bravos all around!

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Brahms - Double Concerto

It's interesting that there are quite a number of negative comments about this performance of the Beethoven here. I didn't dislike it, but it is true that I almost always jump straight to the Brahms' Double Concerto. The piece and the performance are beyond praise, quite frankly.

The same could be said of David Oistrakh. I know of nobody who can play Brahms and Beethoven as this Russian genius does: his performances of the violin concertos are -- adjective defying...

Do have a look at Oistrakh's performaces of Beethoven's violin concerto, either with Cluytens (perhaps not available now) or in the easily got hold of disc on Testament (Erhling). For the Brahms violin concerto there is also the other CD from EMI with Otto Klemperer from 1960, which is also great (but not a patch on this one. It does, howver an amazing performance of the Sinfonia Concertante, with Igor Oistrakh which is the stand-out performance on the CD.)

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grand and glorious

Historic for having three of the greatest musicians who ever walked the earth on one disc, these are also fabulous concertos, at once strong and graceful, melodic as well as grand, and beautifully played by these extraordinary masters.
David Oistrakh (1908-1974) has always been my favorite violinist, Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) one of the finest pianists of the 20th century, and Mstislav Rostropovich is almost a father figure in Russian music, whether as a superb cellist or conductor.
They share a similar heritage, having all lived in the Soviet Union (Oistrakh and Richter were born in the Ukraine, Rostropovich in Azerbaijan in 1927) during relatively the same time frame.

The Beethoven Triple Concerto was started in 1803, and it is fascinating to read in the liner notes how many compositions Beethoven had going at the same time, and major works, like the Eroica Symphony, the Waldstein Sonata, and Fidelio, and during this time managed to weave this marvelous (and unusual for its combination of instruments) piece into his composition schedule. As much as I love the Beethoven concerto, the Brahms "Double" is the winner for me...it gets me in its opening bars of a strong motif, the passionate "conversation" between cello and violin, to come back forcefully to the motif, and it never lets up that intensity for its duration. Oistrakh and Rostropovich have never been finer in what is a definitive performance of this concerto.

The Beethoven, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Brahms, with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, were both recorded in 1969, and the sound has been well re-mastered and is very good for its age. Total playing time is 69'54.

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Great Brahms okay Beethoven

Listening to this CD it becomes obvious why The Brahms is head and shoulders above the Beethoven: Herbert von Karajan cannot shine George Szell's shoes. Listen to the opening of the Brahms, the playing of the Cleveland Orchestra completely outclasses Karajan's Philharmonia, making it sound like a pickup band.

Overall: Great

I bought this mainly for Beethoven's triple concerto. After all, how often would you experience such stupendous soloists playing together?
Prior to this album I had very little exposure to Brahms. But I was surprised by Brahm's double concerto. It was powerful and emotional; matched with superb playing.

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6

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