Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"; Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra
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CD Details
Composer: Ludwig van BeethovenConductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy
Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy
Orchestra: Cleveland Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-10-14
Music Label: Umvd Labels
Soundtracks:
- Allegro
- Adagio Un Poco Mosso
- Rondo (Allegro)
- Fantasia For Piano, Chorus And Orchestra In C Minor, Op. 80
Music reviews of Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"; Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra
Music Review: Exhilarated on the playground
Rating: 5 Stars
This is a very good recording of Beethoven's Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra. It is large and yet personal. It is emotional but never dark. It is sometimes described as 'imperfect' and 'ambitious' but it is a grand achievement for piano, orchestra and chorus in a work that prefigures the larger 9th Symphony. The best terms to use is that the piece is highly compelling with its range of high contrasts between the grandly flamboyant and the triumphal heroic. It is both sweetly lyrical and simply naturally reflective at other times. Beginning with the solo piano in a deep and slow passage we hear hints of spring and ask 'where is it going?' The royal warm French horns call our attention to the first presentation of the primary theme of the composition before we are treated to playful variations of the theme through a series of chamber music like solos by flute, clarinets, oboe, and violin where each section of the orchestra is clearly heard as well as presenting several variations of the primary theme to the listener. Then with the addition of the piano, the themes remain clear, and are perfectly complimented by the orchestra for our sense of discrimination seems heightened at this point as if he has employed a pedagogical strategy to sharpen our listening. The piece is windy, flamboyant, and actually thrilling at this point. It keeps my ears on my toes. It becomes fully and yet briefly a rich tapestry of variation and play between piano and orchestra.
By this point Beethoven has you. Tensions continue to build around the main theme and repetition ensures that the theme is now internalized in the listener's sternum.
He fluctuates from the grand theme to considered passages that are pensive in the way we are lightly meditative when strolling on a perfect day, slowly moving up and down the scales of the keyboard.
The final passages brings us back to the primary theme, its grand uplifting power becoming richer with each refrain and each time the composition returns to re-examine the rousing heroic archetype that Beethoven captured.
Listening to this piece is delightful for one voluntarily places oneself in the roller coaster of playful variations upon variations. Like a child that refuses to come in from the playground, the work lingers, and then also like a child with short attention, jumps to another variation, the essence of artistic adult play.
Vocal soloists and chorus come in playing a role similar to the solo instruments and orchestra in earlier passages until in combined grandeur the chorus bites into the main theme perfectly complimented first by violins and flutes and then by the piano. Not allowed to come to completion, the chorus and orchestra rise to faux terminus several times before the violins take over briefly as the piano is allowed to terminate playtime and call us back to the classroom.
Description of Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor"; Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra
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