Youthful Beethoven in virtuoso mode takes centre stage in a festive program with one of Shakespeare’s most vibrant characters. Featuring acclaimed pianist Andreas Haefliger.
Poor Berlioz: his opera Benvenuto Cellini was a “deadly failure” and “unmercifully hissed” (his words). But there was one part of it that was a huge success: the overture with its bold swagger and wistful tenderness. Later on, Berlioz rescued some of the opera’s most inspired moments to create an even bigger success: his whirlwind Roman Carnival overture.
These two “carnival” works frame a concerto from the young Beethoven – composer and virtuoso – and a portrait of Shakespeare’s flawed knight, Falstaff. Elgar was a gallant soul, and he allows the fat and foolish knight a romantic nobility, all wrapped up in astonishingly detailed storytelling, where every escapade (and every quaffed ale!) has its musical representation.
BERLIOZ Benvenuto Cellini: Overture
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.2
ELGAR Falstaff
BERLIOZ Roman Carnival – Overture
David Zinman conductor
Andreas Haefliger piano
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 - BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.2: I Allegro con brio
Track 2 - BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.2: II Adagio
Track 3 - BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.2: III Rondo (Molto allegro)
Radu Lupu (piano) with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta
DECCA ELOQUENCE 466 681-2
Track 4 - BERLIOZ Roman Carnival - Overture
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra conducted by Albert Wolff
DECCA 480 2385
Audio kindly supplied by Silver Partner Universal Music