Back in the 1970s, Friedrich Gulda recorded a Beethoven piano concerto cycle for Decca with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Horst Stein. It was notable for its lyrical, heroic nature and virile, rhythmic playing that still paid attention to the singing line. This more recent performance is not as good. Gulda seems taxed by having duties as both soloist and conductor. As soloist, he drops more notes than he should and lapses into playing that can best be described as “driven”. The orchestra holds together amazingly well considering the fact that Gulda’s conducting technique is poor and his beat is hard to discern. The horns have some lovely passages, as do the woodwinds; but in tuttis there often is disagreement between soloist and orchestra on entrances and attacks. The camera is on the right players at the right time and the PCM-recorded sound is clean and clear. The Dolby 5.1 re-mix seems overblown and puts the sound too far into the room.
Shedding his turtleneck for an Aloha shirt and his regular glasses for rose-colored shades, Gulda turns in some really neat and trim readings of favorite Mozart, versions that are quite memorable. The DVD has one feature that is really unique: You can turn on one of the subtitles and it gives you a running analysis of the piece, printing out such items as “secondary theme” and “development.”
