Beethoven - Piano Concerto 3 [Perahia/ Haitink-Concertgebouw Orchestra]
Here's the Perennial Beethoven again, his last three Concertos are masterpieces, the third was one which i fell in love with right away, this boxset is ideal, Murray Perahia is a great interpreter.
So what of Bernard Haitink?, some people think he's a genius, others i've heard don't think he's anything special, i guess the jury's out in my corner, i don't particularly 'listen' to a Conductor, maybe a soloist, i prefer listening to the Composer instead, maybe Haitink can be a little slow, he's now over eighty years old!.
The first movement is full of drama, very Mozartian? in it's intro, the Maestro is still somewhat under the shadow of Mozart, written in a minor key [C Minor], i suppose it has its double with Mozart's Concerto 24 in the same key [which i also love], it has that edge of 'conflict' about it, it's hard to pinpoint a certain passage which made me 'sit up and take notice', it's the whole thing that i got into, ok maybe half way through there's this little woodwind 'intro' [7:35-7:40], which leads into the piano playing the main theme, while the strings chug in the background [7:42-8:21], a nice intense moment, the Concerto is very satisfying indeed.
Here's the first movement played by Perahia on YouTube, this time with Marriner conducting.
