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I've enjoyed the Gould series of Beethoven
concertos for at least 20 years, and find them delightful. Still, though,
I'm not entirely happy with that #1. To me it sounds tense and nervous,
and the orchestral playing lacks subtlety and blend. (Like a mixture of
sight-reading and just trying to keep up.) And in the way GG launches into
the final movement, the meter is too ambiguous: the first note sounds like a
downbeat rather than an upbeat. Those two completely wacky anachronistic
cadenzas are fun, though!
Right now I particularly enjoy the new recording
by Robert Levin with John Eliot Gardiner. It's energetic but also relaxed
enough, not driven like a race. The cadenzas are fresh...they're
improvised! The phrasing makes perfect sense, with a natural
differentiation of strong and weak notes. All very well done.
Bradley Lehman, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl
Dayton VA
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