Brandenburger Symphoniker; Peter Gulke - Beethoven: Overture 'The Consecration Of The House'

The Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra took advantage of the restrictive time without an audience and an outstanding soloist for a new production with an exquisite Beethoven recital:

The overture The Consecration of the House is followed by the 4th Piano Concerto with a once again fantastic Lauma Skride, who also contributes to the listening pleasure with the rarely heard Variations in C minor WoO 80.

As a bonus, the second CD contains an intellectual and linguistic highlight: Peter G�lke and Alfred Brendel discuss Schubert, Beethoven and the art of interpretation.

On the encore CD, G�lke reads (in German) from the volume of conversations he published together with Brendel at B�renreiter and Metzler.

Numerous exquisite sound samples illustrate the thoughts of the two intellectual giants; two enigmatically surreal poems byBrendel, recited by the master himself, round off the programme of this edition, which is exceptional in every respect.

Recorded in MDG's pioneering 2+2+2 surround sound onto SACD, this is a thrilling package.

Lauma Skride gives a poetic reading of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto - BBC Music Magazine (3 STARS)