Kovacevich's Philips Beethoven Recordings

I have wanted this for a long time and this set arrived on May 22.  It's now a bargain box from Decca - 6 CDs of Stephen Kovacevich's Beethoven recordings for Philips.  I already had the Emperor Concerto, the Diabelli Variations and the Bagatelles.  Many years ago, I heard this recording of the Beethoven First Piano Concerto from a Philips Sequenza LP I borrowed from the Calgary Public Library. That was from way back in high school.  I marvelled at how big Beethoven sounded compared to Mozart.  And, when the first movement ends, Kovacevich plays the longer and more technically demanding cadenza.  Last night, I listened to the First Piano Concerto and the Fourth (I have never heard this recording of it).  I've always loved Leon Fleisher's recording of the Fourth the most.  A magical recording from 1959 with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.  Kovacevich plays the same cadenzas for the Fourth as Fleisher does in his recording.  The BBC Symphony under the late Sir Colin Davis accompanies with distinction.  The sonics are something else too. When I got the set on Thursday, I quickly listened to Opus 109-110.  The last three Beethoven piano sonatas get played regularly at our home.  I shall set these interpretations alongside Maurizio Pollini's (my favorite).

I prefaced my Beethoven 'concert' last night with Naida Cole's recording of Fauré's Ballade and Chabrier's Bourrée fantasque followed by Murray Perahia playing Brahms Intermezzo Opus 118, Nr 2.  Naida Cole is a Canadian pianist who is the youngest student to ever earn an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory.  She is now a doctor.  Murray Perahia hasn't made a new CD since the Brahms CD was released in 2011.  I should have gone to listen to him in Toronto when I was an undergrad!