Excellently remixed and remastered for their first CD incarnation in 1987, the 1959-61 Fleisher/Szell Beethoven concerto collaborations subsequently appeared in Sony’s Essential Classics budget line in even better sound. Sony now refurbishes the Third and Fourth concertos for its Great Performances series. Sonically speaking, spatial depth and timbral definition remain the same, but with less tape hiss and more amplitude and impact this time around. More importantly, the performances proudly retain their reference status. This is vibrant and virile music making full of passionate sweep, arresting clarity, and genuine, chamber-like give and take between soloist and orchestra.
Like his teacher and mentor Artur Schnabel, Fleisher underlines Beethoven’s harmonic tension by either distending or slightly speeding up certain runs and arpeggiated sequences, yet rarely at the expense of accuracy (the Fourth Concerto finale’s rapid left-hand figurations are uncommonly clear), although he’s not one to slave over making every long trill perfectly even and tapered. Under George Szell’s eagle-eye, the Cleveland Orchestra members achieve staggering unanimity in regard to articulation and marcato phrasing, but with more heart and singing impulse than in Szell’s relatively stiffer Beethoven accompaniments for Emil Gilels eight years later.
Obviously there are other valid ways to approach these works, from Kempff’s intimate colorations to Arrau’s heftier, cosmically-scaled conceptions, while recent entries like Bronfman/Zinman (Arte Nova) match Fleisher/Szell’s salient virtues with the advantage of modern engineering. Still, I expect Sony will bring out this landmark cycle’s three remaining concertos, and hopefully not forget the wonderful Fleisher/Szell Mozart C major K. 503.
