Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 C Minor, Op. 37

Glenn Gould Columbia Symphony Orchestra Leonard Bernstein

Speakers Corner 180gm LP remastering: MS6096

Performance: 3

Glenn Gould was an interesting pianist, but as the Speakers Corner discs of the First Piano Concerto and late piano sonatas demonstrate his Beethoven was at best variable, but what you get here is a perfectly good, if not outstanding performance of Op.37. Bernstein was one of the great Beethoven concerto conductors so there is plenty of power and definition in the first movement introduction. When Gould enters his playing combines Mozartian grace with an underlying sense of power, although there are moments of rhythmic stiffness at a moderate tempo. The Largo is suitably measured, but Gould lacks the emotional depth of Kovacevich or Serkin, to name but two. Again he is in no hurry in the Rondo finale which is delivered with urbane elegance, although a bit more attack wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Sound

Balance: 3 Inner balance: 2/3 Detail and clarity: 3 Dynamic range: 3

The original LP was recorded in 1959 at the Columbia Studios, New York with a forward balance, where – not unusually for the time – the soloist dominates the sound-stage. There is some sense of depth, the string tone reasonably full, the woodwind are audible, but get lost in forte passages, when compared to the sound Decca gave Katchen in the same work in the same year the timpani and brass lack impact in anything less than forte and the overall image isn’t so vibrant. Nevertheless this new remastering is vastly superior to the Glenn Gould Edition CD and has greater body and presence than the first label UK LP used for comparison, which one suspects will make it a must-have item for Gould’s army of admirers.