What better excuse to learn Beethoven’s C minor concerto than the promise of a lead role in a grand epic feature, where the female cabaret-pianist protagonist dreams one day of playing this very work with a “proper” orchestra. Anna Gourari took up renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog’s offer. The result: a tie-in CD release for Herzog’s movie Invincible. Let’s zero in on the orchestral contribution first. Compared to Philips’ late-1980s Colin Davis/Staatskapelle Dresden Beethoven C minor concerto (with soloist Claudio Arrau), Koch’s sonics are drier and less robust, but the brass playing decidedly gains in color and definition. Similarly, the string backgrounds emerge with greater profile and rhythmic point in the outer movements. This is by far the best of Davis’ several recordings of this work, but it’s the one featuring the least imaginative soloist.
To be certain, Gourari plays Beethoven with more style and taste than her mannered and contrived Chopin recital on Koch. But her tinkling fingerwork hardly matches the burnished, full-bodied sonority Annie Fischer, Wilhelm Kempff, and Arthur Rubinstein (especially in his Boston/Leinsdorf recording) bring to this score. Hear, for example, how she phrases the Rondo’s brisk main theme in a foursquare, tick-tock fashion far removed from Leon Fleisher’s angular unpredictability, and how she underinflects the slow movement’s long, serene lines.
The 32 C minor Variations fare better, despite Gourari’s rather mincing staccatos and the caution that permeates her runs and rotary passages. Gourari also downsizes the “Pathetique” sonata’s dramatic heft and emotional scale and wields a heavy hand throughout turns, roulades, and other decorations. A dose of “vita-meata-vegamin” would have been just the thing to spruce up her broken octave passages in the first movement. Apart from its cinematic connection and an excellent accompaniment from Davis and his Dresden forces, this release is essentially a non-event.
