audite: Beethoven — Piano Concertos No. 4 & No. 5 (Curzon / Kubelík) — Audio CD

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: audite Schallplatten
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
• Piano: Clifford Curzon
• Conductor: Rafael Kubelík
• Orchestra: Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra)
• Catalogue Number: audite 95.459
• UPC / Barcode: 4009410954596
• Label Code: LC 4480
• Release Year: 1998
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Piano Concerto, Orchestral

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Sound: Stereo (ADD)
• Total runtime: 76:20
• Recording: Live recordings by the Bavarian Broadcasting Company, Herkules-Saal in der Residenz, Munich, 14–15 February 1977
• Booklet: English text enclosed
• Condition: Brand New / Factory Sealed

Overview

Two of Beethoven's greatest piano concertos in performances that have stayed in the catalogue for a reason. This audite release pairs the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 with the No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 — the "Emperor" — captured live in Munich's Herkules-Saal in February 1977. Clifford Curzon is at the keyboard, with Rafael Kubelík conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Curzon was famously reluctant to record, which makes these recordings precious. His Fourth opens with that quiet, searching solo entry and never loses its poise; the Fifth has the scale and grandeur the "Emperor" demands without ever turning heavy-handed. Kubelík and the Bavarian orchestra match him line for line.

The disc earned a Diapason 5 rating — the top mark from France's most respected classical review — and the original analogue tapes come through with the warmth and presence audite is known for. Roughly 76 minutes of music, both concertos complete, on a single disc.

Interesting Facts

• Clifford Curzon (1907–1982) made very few commercial recordings; he was a perfectionist who disliked the studio, so surviving live documents like this one are especially valued by collectors.
• These performances were taped by Bayerischer Rundfunk in February 1977 and later issued by audite from the broadcaster's archive tapes.
• Rafael Kubelík led the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra as chief conductor from 1961 to 1979, one of the most celebrated partnerships of his career.
• The "Emperor" nickname for Concerto No. 5 was not Beethoven's own — it was attached later by an English publisher, and the composer never used it.
• The release carries a Diapason 5 award, the highest rating from the French magazine Diapason.
• Concerto No. 4 was premiered by Beethoven himself in 1808 and is admired for its unusually gentle, lyrical opening.

Track Listing

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (35:43)

1. Allegro moderato — 19:39
2. Andante con moto — 5:39
3. Rondo. Vivace — 10:22

Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 "Emperor" (40:28)

1. Allegro — 21:06
2. Adagio un poco mosso — 8:24
3. Rondo. Allegro — 10:54

Total time — 76:20

Publishers

Released by audite Schallplatten (Friedrich Mauermann), ℗© 1998. Recorded by the Bavarian Broadcasting Company at Herkules-Saal in der Residenz, Munich, 1977. Cover design by BRANDesign, Munich. Clifford Curzon appears by courtesy of The Decca Record Company Limited.

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