10/19 Piano Concertos 1 & 5 (A. Fischer)

Still recovering from my Vienna trip so here's something I had planned for a little later in the week instead...

Beethoven's 1st Piano Concerto Op.15 (1797) and 5th Piano Concerto Op.73 (1809)

As mentioned in my earlier post about favorite Beethoven piano sonata sets, Annie Fischer is one of my all-time favorite Beethoven pianists.  Her Schumann and Bartok is nothing to sneeze at either.  Some pianists play so perfectly that they seem cool and aloof, some play so loosely that it seems they are playing their own interpretation first and Beethoven second.  Ms. Fischer plays right in the middle:  soulful yet honest, interpretive but never distracting.  She has fumbled a note here or there but somehow instead of taking me out of the piece, it actually reminds me that this music is for humans and not computers.  Ehhh, I suppose if you've followed my posts on MIDI that might seem an ironic statement....

Sviatoslav Richter:"Annie Fischer is a great artist imbued with a spirit of greatness and genuine profundity."



Here's the 1st Piano Concerto Op.15 (1797) with conductor Peter Mura (I think):


Here's the 5th Piano Concerto Op.73 (1809) :