Your guide to classical music online

Faceless Beethoven from Angelich & Equilbey

David Hurwitz

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

No need to waste much time here. The Insula Orchestra is yet another one of those faceless period performance groups whose conductor, Laurence Equilbey, seems to believe that the timbre of the instruments legitimately substitutes for interpretive insight. These are sensibly paced, well-intentioned performances whose chief virtue, orchestrally, is that everyone stays in tune. The use of period instruments offers no additional clarity (bass lines in the Fourth concerto are especially murky), no startling revelations of color–in short, nothing special.

As for Nicholas Angelich, his playing is at one with the ensemble: neat, precise, but otherwise completely unremarkable. His approach to dynamics is sort of terraced: mostly loud-ish then soft-ish (true of the orchestra as well). Opportunities for poetry in the slow movements go for nothing. That of the Fourth concerto is a complete non-happening. The result is a chronic lack of tension, of drama, in other words, of the spirit of Beethoven. There are just too many great recordings of this music to waste your time with these uninspired run-throughs.


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Arrau/Davis (Decca); Fleisher/Szell (Sony); Uchida/Sanderling (Decca)

  • Record Label: Erato - 0190295634179
  • Medium: CD

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the