From my early teens in the late 60s, while my brother and sister vigorously adorned their bedroom walls with posters of the Beatles, Hendrix, The Cream, Johnny Farnam and Elvis, mine had all the palpable appearances of a Beethoven museum. He was my absolute hero, my idol, my life’s guiding force, and throughout my teens, I saved my pennies, buying dozens of records in my exulted journey to discovering this towering genius.
At that time, his Triple Concerto was something of an anomaly; regarded oddly inferior, it seemed to be consigned to the very back of the 19th Cent. cupboard. By the late 1960s, there was one particularly celebrated performance on DGG, with the Russian dream team - Rostropovich, Richter, Oistrakh, while Karajan conducted the BPO. I cut my "Triple" teeth on this recording, and only decades later did I discover how superficial it actually was. Indeed, many years after the event, Richter himself reported how much he hated Rostropovich's crawling up to Karajan during the recording sessions, saying it was the hardest photo shoot of his life, as the four of them grinned inanely into the camera, disguising the unbearable tension residing in the background.
In the late 80s, I was pianist in a full-time piano trio which was invited to perform this concerto with various orchestras. Sadly the ensemble disbanded before reaching the first of these engagements, but not before trolling the various and available recorded fair.
The three of us were fully aware of course! of the Stern-Istomin-Rose Trio, and particularly treasured their Beethoven "Ghost" recording, with some truly vintage Stern playing. Throughout my life, I've generally felt ambivalence towards Stern's playing, finding it occasionally routine, and musically insincere, as was my feeling after hearing him live on many occasions.
Meanwhile, my search for the ultimate performance of the Triple soldiered onwards and upwards, introducing me to a great many recordings and performances, though for “Stern” reasons (pun intended), I deliberately overlooked their recording of this work. The earliest recordings of the Triple (apparently on record – another punishing pun!) were that of Felix Weingartner from 1937, and a live performance with Toscanini from 1942.
However, my favourite for decades was the great Anda, Schneiderhan, Fournier recording with Fricsay conducting. For me, this recording could do no wrong, and thus it was with trepidation that I purchased this recent HDTT recording. I’m delighted to say, I have not for one single moment regretted it, as it is head and shoulders above any recording I have ever heard. It is so obviously by an ensemble that have played this work for decades, such is this performance, replete with wonderful subtleties, breathtaking detail, and musical felicities. The soloists seem to spontaneously feed off each others' ideas, almost as if in a live performance, and Ormandy's accompaniment is truly inspiring:- precise, supportive, and engaging in every respect, without ever letting the team down.
For me, this is the to-die-for performance of this stellar work, which today - I’m pleased to say - enjoys frequent performances the world over, and HDTT have done an incredible job remastering this recording, which doesn't let even a single, microscopic detail escape!
