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Rating: 
Summary: a Beethoven fan
Review: A must vidoe for all fans of the Maestro! Although aging, Solti gives exceptional performances of these works. Never faltering, yet with some subtle changes in his usual fire brand approach, Solti leads the LSO in dynamic interpretations.
Rating: 
Summary: The Maestro Never Aged
Review: A must vidoe for all fans of the Maestro! Although aging, Solti gives exceptional performances of these works. Never faltering, yet with some subtle changes in his usual fire brand approach, Solti leads the LSO in dynamic interpretations.
Rating:
Summary: The American Pianist who has conquered Europe/World
Review: Few conductors are of Solti's calibre nowadays, and I just don't like LSO without Solti. Likewise, few pianists nowadays play like Parahia. We love to see more modern pianists play in the way he does. And though some have a huge technique somehow there is something that is missing, and when saying so I have Kissins in mind. Parahia's touch is full of feelings and rather light at times. He reminds us very much of his teacher Horszowski. Yet, when playing the more excited parts, he would rather reveal the temperment of Serkin or even of Horowitz. No matter how, we could feel the tradition of Bach and Mozart even in his Beethoven and this is much to his credit. His scales and arpeggios are even more "refined" and more fluid than Horszowski, and fortunately enough, the menace of getting mechanical is nowhere near. I have, however, no grumble with the sound of this DVD. This may not be as good as the best recordings in 90s, but it's more than good enough to get everything across. Solti's support is wonderful and he balanced the orchestra with the pianist perfectly well, however light the pianist's touch might be. And the dialogues are just wonderful. However, it's also interesting to note that we don't see any reciprocal sudden change of temperment on the part of the orchestra as such!
Rating:
Summary: The American Pianist who has conquered Europe/World
Review: Few conductors are of Solti's calibre nowadays, and I just don't like LSO without Solti. Likewise, few pianists play like Parahia. We love to see more modern pianists play in the way he does. And though some have a huge technique somehow there is something that is missing, and when saying so I have Kissins in mind. Parahia's touch is full of feelings and rather light at times. He reminds us very much of his teacher Horszowski. Yet, when playing the more excited parts, his left hand would rather reveal the temperment of Serkin instead. No matter how, we could feel the tradition of Bach and Mozart even in his Beethoven and this is much to his credit. His scales and arpeggios are even more "refined" than Horszowski, and fortunately the menace of getting mechanical is nowhere near. I have, however, no grumble with the sound of this DVD. This may not be as good as the best recordings in 90s, but it's more than good enough to get everything across. Solti's support is wonderful and he balanced the orchestra with the pianist perfectly well, however light the pianist's touch might be. And the dialogues are just wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: a Beethoven fan
Review: I'm reviewing this DVD because I was disappointed with the sound, though I probably shouldn't have been. The sound is typical vintage 1987 television sound. That means that even though it's been put on DVD as Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 2.0, it sounds like it was recorded by 2 microphones in the ceiling (i.e. the sound is kind of muddy and it is hard to distinguish all the interesting things going on, especially during the symphony). The performances are typical Solti and LSO. While I prefer Solti's later "rediscovering Beethoven" tempos and interpretation, it's still Beethoven and to me it's just about impossible to play a Beethoven symphony and get all the notes right and not have something interesting to listen to (and of course Solti/LSO get the notes right). I liked the Piano Concerto best, probably because it uses the smallest ensemble so the sound quality is less of an issue, and Perahia plays very well. Just don't get this DVD expecting to get the kind of sound a DVD is capable of delivering. This was BBC televised concert after all, not a recording session with a forest of microphones (I don't remember seeing a single microphone).
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