Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4

[soliloquy]

Best recording?  I've never really been able to get into this piece but I don't think I have any very good recs of it =/

[minstrel]

Glenn Gould

[Kassaa]

Solomon, Gilels.

[sharon_f]

Serkin (Rudolph) and Curzon without question.

[teresa_b]

It's subjective, but my fav is Gilels.

Teresa

[soderlund]

What do you think of Krystian Zimeman's interpretation? I'm curious because I just bought a cd of him playing all the concerti, but it hasn't been shipped yet.

[cygnusdei]

I'm partial to Christian Zacharias. I'd recommend him also for Concerto no. 3.

[soliloquy]

I'm partial to Christian Zacharias. I'd recommend him also for Concerto no. 3.

Really?  I have a live of Pollini on the No. 3 that I am currently under the impression that it can never be matched.

[retrouvailles]

Zimerman has the best 4th concerto recording, in my opinion.

[cmg]

It's subjective, but my fav is Gilels.

Teresa

Wise words, Teresa.

And my subjective first choice(s) would be Arrau and Cliburn.  Yes, Cliburn.  This concerto is a glorious, gorgeous, pumped-up piece of chamber music.  The piano line is the definition of economy and with a large orchestra as its partner, I think it needs a pianist with a nice, big, juicy fat sound.  To make those lines really sing.

Arrau and Cliburn deliver huge, beautiful, rounded tone in their recordings.

Come to think of it, so does Gilels, Serkin and Curzon.  I love all of them.

[arensky]

Josef Hoffman live in the early 40's; he plays an odd cadenza (Reinecke?) but so what. This is unbelievable.... 

Among modern recordings I've always liked Weissenberg with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, although this has as much to do with Karajan as Weissenberg imo.

[point of grace]

Gilels´
and Anton Solerbilensky´s  in my opinion, but no recordings out there