The newest entry in the small but growing Beethoven/Liszt Two-Piano Ninth Symphony catalog offers salient attractions, if not complete satisfaction. The Duo Reine Elisabeth brings genuine excitement, brio, and slightly aggressive accentuation to much of the first movement and to the finale’s fughetta. Once past the first measure of rest, the Scherzo goes like the wind, but soon settles into a more comfortable tempo. Chord attacks are not so consistently together next to the razor-sharp ensemble distinguishing Fabio and Sandro Gemmiti’s performance on the RS label.
Lyrical playing is well calibrated from a contrapuntal perspective and is sensitive enough, yet Naxos’ Ashley Wass and Leon McCawley inflect phrases with more nuance and shapely expression; compare the first movement’s B-flat major theme or the Adagio’s central episode and you’ll hear what I mean.
Still, if the recent Contiguglia brothers’ traversal is too fussy, or the Paul and Matthew Kim is too rigid for comfort (improved text notwithstanding), the Duo Reine Elisabeth’s spirited interpretation is worth checking out. However, I prefer the Naxos disc’s artistic and sonic superiority, while download fans should be able to locate the RS release in a superb MP3 transfer that costs next to nothing. For that matter, Harmonia Mundi ought to reissue its excellent version with Alain Planès and Georges Pludermacher.
