Beethoven Triple Concerto: arguably the least successful of any of
Beethoven's mature concertos in the concert hall. It's one of those
pieces that never seems to get a performance that does it justice.
Usually, you get terrible seriousness when a big orchestra and three star names try to out-do each other, as the cello, violin, and piano soloists fight for the limelight.
On disc, it hasn't fared much better, and there's an infamous Herbert von Karajan recording from 1969 with David Oistrakh on violin, Sviatoslav Richter on piano, and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich: it's a nadir of gigantic egos trying to trump each other, a bonfire of the vanities from which Karajan and the Berlin Philarmonic still somehow manage to emerge victorious.
So praise be to the Avison Ensemble at Kings Place, and a performance that made the Triple Concerto come alive as a concert experience. There was the thrill of seeing a period instrument band take up every inch of the stage in Kings Place's Hall 1 (even if the string section was reduced to a handful of violins and violas, just 3 cellos and a couple of double of basses), and hearing them fill the hall's fantastic acoustic.
The truth is that the Triple Concerto isn't a concerto at all, since there's no real dialogue between the orchestra and the soloists, and the three soloists carry virtually all of the musical argument themselves. The Avison Ensemble's performance revealed the piece for what it really is: an amplified piano trio, with the orchestra beefing up the textures but often reduced to no more than generic accompaniment. Best of all in the Avison's performance was its sheer sense of fun.
The Avisons playing was far from perfect in its balance and technique, but it was exciting, physical, and improvisational. In the Triple Concerto, I'd take them over Karajan and the Russians any day.
Credits : Beethoven's Triple Concerto By Tom Service
27 March 2009
The Guardian, United Kingdom
Usually, you get terrible seriousness when a big orchestra and three star names try to out-do each other, as the cello, violin, and piano soloists fight for the limelight.
On disc, it hasn't fared much better, and there's an infamous Herbert von Karajan recording from 1969 with David Oistrakh on violin, Sviatoslav Richter on piano, and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich: it's a nadir of gigantic egos trying to trump each other, a bonfire of the vanities from which Karajan and the Berlin Philarmonic still somehow manage to emerge victorious.
So praise be to the Avison Ensemble at Kings Place, and a performance that made the Triple Concerto come alive as a concert experience. There was the thrill of seeing a period instrument band take up every inch of the stage in Kings Place's Hall 1 (even if the string section was reduced to a handful of violins and violas, just 3 cellos and a couple of double of basses), and hearing them fill the hall's fantastic acoustic.
The truth is that the Triple Concerto isn't a concerto at all, since there's no real dialogue between the orchestra and the soloists, and the three soloists carry virtually all of the musical argument themselves. The Avison Ensemble's performance revealed the piece for what it really is: an amplified piano trio, with the orchestra beefing up the textures but often reduced to no more than generic accompaniment. Best of all in the Avison's performance was its sheer sense of fun.
The Avisons playing was far from perfect in its balance and technique, but it was exciting, physical, and improvisational. In the Triple Concerto, I'd take them over Karajan and the Russians any day.
Credits : Beethoven's Triple Concerto By Tom Service
27 March 2009
The Guardian, United Kingdom
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