Several pianists have recorded the Beethoven Concerto cycle no less than three times, including Claudio Arrau, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alfred Brendel, and Arthur Rubinstein. Daniel Barenboim's triumvirate, however, approached these war-horses from three distinct perspectives: first as soloist under Klemperer, second conducting for Rubinstein, and third leading the Berlin Philharmonic from the keyboard. The latter cycle is far and away the most successful of Barenboim's three. His Fourth and Fifth concertos offer suaver, more polished piano playing and a warm, responsive orchestra at his beck and call. But a lot of the instrumental attacks and articulations are spongy and a bit off-center. Would a full-time podium presence have made a difference for the better? The equally elegant and ruminative Arrau/David/Dresden versions are more focused and tighter ensemble-wise. Still, Barenboim manages to achieve spacious rapture in the "Emperor" concerto's slow movement with very little rubato, saving all rhetorical nudges for the headlong finale. At budget price, collectors will get good value from this disc.

--Jed Distler