Claudio Arrau, Staatskapelle Dresden, Sir Colin Davis - Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2 (1999)

Though it`s hardly uncommon for a musician to be performing and recording at age 85, it`s difficult to think of many octogenarian performers who continue to explore new paths. Arrau is the wonderful exception, as his current Beethoven cycle for Philips has indicated time and again.
This recording of the first two piano concertos offers further proof, for here Arrau turns in performances that force us to reconsider these works. We may be accustomed to hearing the First Concerto played with lightness and Mozartean elegance, but Arrau goes well beyond this cliche. His account of the first movement has a depth and mystery it is rarely accorded. The slow tempo and hushed dynamics that he and Davis bring to the middle movement again cast the piece in a fascinating light that foreshadows later Beethoven.
The recording of the Second Concerto is no less a revelation, particularly for the long, unbroken line of thought that Arrau carries throughout.