Recorded in the late 1980s, Christian Zacharias’ Beethoven concerto cycle for EMI was irregularly available in the U.S. as a special import. Here, the Fourth and Fifth concertos gain a new lease on life at budget price. Their virtues can hold their own against numerous modestly priced versions stuffing the catalog. Conductor Hans Vonk’s predilection for well-drilled ensemble playing manifests itself via the marvelously aligned string tuttis in the Fourth’s Adagio and in the rhythmic spring and enlivening accents he obtains in the “Emperor” concerto’s Rondo. Orchestral textures are lean and transparent without compromising one iota of the Staatskapelle Dresden’s tonal richness.
Zacharias’ effortless, rippling fingerwork in the Fourth matches the surface refinement of Gieseking, Moravec, and Gilels, but unlike those artists, he opts for Beethoven’s more frequently heard cadenza. Some listeners might find the slow movement’s fleet basic tempo too business-like, leaving no room to express the music’s lyrical anguish. Here, with the same orchestra in the same recording venue just a few years earlier, Colin Davis got more vibrant, intensified results at slower tempos, as he did throughout the “Emperor”, abetted by soloist Claudio Arrau’s supreme, fastidiously detailed artistry (virtually untarnished at age 81!). For his part, Zacharias brings plenty of sparkle and polish to the Fifth concerto’s bravura solo writing, even if he does unleash the Rondo’s racing scales with notey, practice-room evenness. This is not my first-choice Fourth and Fifth combination platter (that honor goes to Gilels/Ludwig on Testament, with the aforementioned Arrau/Davis an extremely close second), but it remains a fine bargain all the same.
