Beethoven

Romances - Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano and Orchestra,Op. 56
Ulf Hoelscher vn Heinrich Schiff vc Christian Zacharias pf

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Kurt Masur

EMI CDC7 47427-2 (50 minutes : DDD)

Reviewed: Gramophone (5/1987)

The Triple Concerto is not a feeble work of Beethoven's, as it is often considered; and if I state that with confidence, it is entirely due to the hearings which records have given me over the years. On the contrary, it is a highly organized and totally original masterpiece. It is neglected in the concert hall for the obvious reason that to engage three first-class soloists, any one of whom would be perfectly capable of ensuring a full house on his own, is a non-starter financially (and the cellist, in particular, must be of the highest quality if he is to be able to cope with his high-lying tessitura). So it is to records that we have to turn to hear the work as often as it deserves and it is gratifying that there are already two such fine CD issues.
I shall recommend this EMI version, if only because the recording is more recent and better; for the Karajan/DG—thought the overtures (Coriolan, Egmont and Fidelio) make good fill-ups, for what would otherwise be a very short-measure CD—is digitally remastered from considerably older sources. If you want a quick sample, compare the string basses in the very first few bars of the Concerto; Karajan's are unclear and smudgy where the EMI sound is clear and musical. (I must fairly say, however, that they are not typical of the whole DG disc, which I found more and more acceptable as it went on.) But Masur's soloists are equally accomplished and sometimes even better and so I find this a wholly satisfying Compact Disc. Well, perhaps not quite 'wholly', for I confess to a lack of enthusiasm for the violin Romances, however well they are played—and Ulf Hoelscher does play them well. That is a personal view and it may be countered by the fact that most listeners will already have good versions of the three overtures almost by accident, if not design, for they are available as 'extras' on so many records.