Part of the pianistic genius behind Franz Liszt’s Beethoven symphony arrangements for piano solo lies in what Liszt chose to leave out in order to include what was essential to leave in. Then of course there’s the purely virtuoso challenge on the performer’s part. Theoretically speaking, two pianists can handle the Ninth Symphony’s imposing orchestral and choral material with greater ease than a single player; yet the music’s sense of struggle and confrontation seems to soften in the process. In any event, Fabio and Sandro Gemmiti bring more color, nuance, and rhythmic drive to the outer movements and Scherzo than Alain Plaines and Georges Pludermacher do on their Harmonia Mundi traversal. The Gemmitis’ swift, somewhat cool slow movement, however, misses the inner warmth and singing line I admire in the Contiguglia brothers’ pioneering 1972 effort on Connoisseur Society (once available as a Japanese CD import, now impossible to find). And the latter shape the Finale’s recitatives with convincing, vocally oriented rhetoric in contrast to the Gemmitis’ stricter, more instrumentally informed readings. Some listeners will enjoy the fullness and impact of the engineering, but a more resonant acoustic would suit the music and the medium better.
