Octo_Russ

Beethoven - Piano Concerto 5 [Zacharias/ Vonk-Staatskapelle Dresden]

A great box set of the complete Piano Concertos, along with the Triple Concerto, i played the Fifth less than a week ago, which was also with the Staatskapelle Dresden [30th December 2011], and yet there's no 'not Beethoven's Fifth again' feeling, in fact the exact opposite, it's so good to hear this work yet again, and what makes things fresh is the different perspective that Zacharias brings to the work, i really can't get enough of this work, you wouldn't think negative of playing a 3 minute song a second time, even right after the first, is a longer work like this Concerto any different?, it's really only time commitments that stop me having another dose of 37 minutes.

Christian Zacharias is German, now 61 years old, as well as being a Pianist, he also started conducting in 1992, he recorded this work in 1988, it's an excellent boxed set, Zacharias isn't one to spring to mind when you consider great Pianists, rather he would be considered a serviceable performer, but considering the enjoyment levels i've had from this set, he's much more than serviceable, the front booklet cover is very nice, showing Zacharias sitting beside his piano, with a vertical bar of grey for a block to cover the lettering, good layout, nicely balanced.

The first movement of this Concerto is tremendous, on this performance it lasts 10 seconds shy of 20 minutes, a masterly intro from the piano from Beethoven, a sort of triple fanfare of blasts from the orchestra, but when the orchestra launch into full flight, it's a tremendous moment [1:06+], the work has this onward and forward momentum to it, it's irresistible, when i first heard this work, i was sure that Beethoven's inspiration was the human laugh, it's all over the place in this work, you can hear the piano cackling away in the piano bass [6:37-6:56 & 15:11-15:29 later], when the orchestra has those forte tuttis, and just over halfway through it's so good to hear those opening fanfare blasts [12:18+], and Zacharias playing those revolutionary notes anew, and the orchestra take off again on their full flight [12:57+], it's surely a work of genius, and easily my favourite Piano Concerto.

Here's Daniel Barenboim playing the first movement on YouTube.