It is true no doubt that Beethoven had a rumbustious, heavy-handed, unpredictable side to his nature, but they are qualities which make for uneasy listening when they are translated directly into the interpretation of his music. Gerhard Oppitz is a Kempff pupil, though you would hardly know it from his playing which tends to be dark-browed and bullish, playing that abjures fine shading and seems to rely instead on muscle and strong momentum. (The young Backhaus occasionally sounded like this.)
Janowski and the Leipzig players seem happy to go along with this. Their playing is weighty and emphatic, strong beats are often heavily accented, the pulse at one moment does not necessarily relate in any obvious way to the pulse at another. The first movement of the C major Concerto starts at a snail’s pace but quickens significantly as the movement progresses. The finale goes at a terrific lick but still none the less manages to leave one feeling bruised rather than exhilarated. This, I must say, I find odd from a conductor who made one of the finest (and most seriously underrated) of all cycles of the Schumann symphonies (ASV, 10/86 and 9/87). The C minor Concerto, it has to be said, isn’t unduly protracted and is well able to survive Oppitz’s forceful manner but the lack of any real light and shade in the playing is likely to be sorely missed by many collectors.
RCA’s sound spares us nothing. Even with the volume turned down the performances continue to lour and glower at us in their humourless, intimidating way.'