Berlin Philharmonic concert
One of my ongoing pleasures is to be able to be in the comfort of my home, and to connect with the Berlin Philharmonic’s Digital Concert Hall. There is no need to wait for a live concert, even though these are wonderful; the DCH has a collection of past concerts at their archives, and I continue to enjoy these.
Most recently I listened to the concert that took place on December 15, 2012. I listened only to the Mozart piano concerto in C-Major K. 467, with Maurizio Pollini as piano soloist.
Mr Pollini is now 71 years old, and he gave a solid performance of this great work. Mr. Pollini has a long background as a performer, and he also at one time studied with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
I particularly enjoyed the wonderful second movement of the concerto, where both soloist and the orchestra achieved some great moment of fine pianissimos.
I have to admit that I am not an admirer of Mr. Thielemann as a conductor; and I found that the final movement of this concerto was played too rapidly, and this gave the whole final movement a mechanical character, rather than having the musicians find moments of grace and tenderness. The performance was OK, but not great or inspiring, as Mozart usually is for me.
Here is the same music, with a different orchestra and conductor:
Mozart: Piano concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467; Maurizio Pollini and Riccardo Muti conducting the La Scalla orchestra:
And here is Mr. Pollini performing the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 with Claudio Abbado conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker
Tags: Mozart, piano concerto, Pollini, Berlin Phiharmonic