The Classical Style: Classical Notes

(...) It was Beethoven, who studied with Haydn, who brought the legacy of these composers into the Romantic age, a lesson made vividly clear on Richard Goode's new album, "Beethoven: The Complete Piano Concertos" (Nonesuch). His sterling collaborators, Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, represent the dynamic compromise that a new generation has made, deploying the concentrated power of modern orchestras while recognizing the stylistic discoveries of the period-performance movement. The result is a supple, measured lyricism that avoids selfindulgent extremes, an equipoise that the veteran Goode, as a successor to Rudolf Serkin, has developed entirely on his own. No one will be surprised by the humane and poetic qualities the pianist brings to the Fourth Concerto, but in the concluding "Emperor" Concerto Goode offers truly revelatory playing, turning that shameless virtuoso showcase into a vibrant, three-dimensional creation.

Banles721 (blog)
21 July 2010