I would put Classical Pianists into two categories, 'Staccato Pianists' and 'Legato Pianists', Lupu is definitely Legato, and that's the way i lean in my love, someone who knows how to shade and blend ideas, and from one section to another, Lupu doesn't do anything to spoil the spell that he weaves, with strange personal musings, rather he gives us straight Beethoven, i'm sure that the Master himself woild have exclaimed 'now that's exactly what i meant!', even though this disc has no coupling, and only lasts for 38 minutes, yet i feel i got my moneys worth more than lots of 80 minute filled discs.
Radu Lupu is Romanian, he's now 66, yet with that shock of unruly white hair he now has, he certainly looks older, he's a fairly shy Pianist, he doesn't make many recordings these days, but what he has recorded is quality, he made this recording in 1979, the front cover shows Lupu seated at his piano, reflection in the underside of the lid, fists on thigh and cheek, looks too serious i guess, but he's framed nicely in a triangle, a nice idea.
This was a great experience, a performance that i enjoyed beginning to end, but more especially in the first movement, a 20 minute span of pure unbridled joy, couched in Beethoven's heroic key of E Flat Major [the key of the Third Symphony Eroica], Lupu is fleet fingered in the opening phrases [0:00-1:12], not ruminative, and likewise Mehta doesn't slow down into meditative gush, there's a headlong rush of joyous Allegro, maybe the recording shows its age somewhat [33 years old], the treble can have a slight shrillness in the orchestra, but the piano is well caught, just over halfway through the first movement, the opening returns, and it's with a lovely exuberance from Lupu [12:39-13:22], the restatement is stronger than at the opening, and it really shows, the way he can shade volume in and out of the orchestral soup is lovely, it's as if certain phrases can come out of nowhere, like someone's entrance into a room is only noticed after they're in the room, and at the end, the way in which Lupu chimes trills in the treble, and then slowly makes his way down the keyboard [19:45-20:00], it's paced so well on so many levels, i'm not a Lupu aficionado, i just haven't heard enough of him, but on this listen i want to hear more.
Here's Claudio Arrau playing the first movement on YouTube.
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