BEETHOVEN/Reiner/Cliburn - - "Piano Concerto 5 (the Emperor)" - RCA 'Shaded Dog' 1961

"As is true of many of the composer's works with nicknames — e.g. the "Moonlight" Sonata, the "Spring" Sonata — the "Emperor" moniker attached to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 (1809) is not the composer's own. Still, there is hardly an adjective that could more aptly evoke the work's impressive scale and majesty. Despite its considerable technical demands, the "Emperor" Concerto handily transcends the typical role of the concerto as a mere virtuoso vehicle. Indeed, it is virtually symphonic in conception; its E flat major key (the same as that of the "Eroica" Symphony), expansive form, and sometimes martial, always grand, character grant the concerto a place among the defining works in the composer's heroic vein. - Kairos is a word used by ancient Greek writers to signify "the right point of time...the exact or critical time..." of action, a favorable planetary conjunction, or otherwise. Cliburn's career is an illustration. In the tensest days of the Cold War — of Civil Defense, air raid sirens, bomb shelters, atomic angst, and the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik that put the Russians first into space — handsome, lanky 6'4," 23-year-old Van Cliburn, with his Southerner's air of innocent modesty and tremendous keyboard technique, in April 1958 carried off the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow with a transcendent performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Timing — kairos — and talent combined to make his triumph symbolic, heroic, and permanently memorable; the recording he made of it soon after, with Kiril Kondrashin conducting the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, is warmly glowing with an incomparable magic that has kept his performance competitive with later interpreters decade after decade." - AMG.

This is an RCA "Shaded Dog" Living Stereo recording from approx. 1961. The RCA "Dogs" are considered to be of true Audiophile quality. This recording is no exception.

The record is NM-.
The jacket is VG.
The LP plays NM-.
What little surface noise there is is limited to an occasional random "tick or crackle".

The sound of this LP is fantastic. The Soundstage is wide and very deep. The Piano is in perfect proportion to the Orchestra and has no "wander" whatsoever. Tonally, the bass is deep, the mid-range warm and tube-like and the high's are transparent - no harshness or glare. Each instrument is highly defined and are totally distinguishable from one another - even in massed choruses. Instruments also have "air" and presence about them. The Piano is captured with "micro" detail - not only tonality and timbre but also the "attack" of each note can be heard.

Each record is washed on a VPI cleaning machine using a proprietary 3-5 agent process which is determined by the needs of the individual record. Each record is then listened to 100% to insure that the posted description is exactly what you can expect to get.

NOTE! Purchase any 3 or more of my LP's together and get 10% off the order as well as savings on shipping! Just click on "More From This Seller" to see a full listing!

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