In spite of, or perhaps because of, its apparent naivety, the Triple Concerto is not a work to be undertaken by young or inexperienced players and it needs to be conducted by a conductor of character. (I need hardly asy that its recorded balance is another problem and the recording in general needs to have vivid sound.) None of these qualities, alas, appears to be present in this latest issue of the work. The recording is made at a low level and even when I increased the volume well beyond the normal setting I could not hear the soloists making the most of their opportunities or playing with any particular zest. If you compare the EMI version under Masur, you will see what I mean. He also has young soloists (though already more experienced, I think, than the young ladies on this RCA record). Yet the main ingredient that ensures greater success is the presence of Masur who, I guess, has given his soloists a considerable amount of coaching and, what players in this concerto particularly need, encouragement. It may be he who has encouraged them to play out and make the most of their parts if the performance is to have real impact.
This new version is, I regret to say, a dim affair, with nobody risking anything beyond Beethoven's dynamic markings and underplaying such of them as there are. A good many should be taken with a pinch of salt if the best is to be made of the work and it is fatal to observe too literally some of them. The dolce marks in p passages, for example, by which I mean that it is the p that should not be observed too closely—you can play dolce at a quite high level. The third movement, a polacca, presents a special problem. It is, of course, a dance—perhaps more properly described as a stately ceremonial procession—and its stately processional character is brought out better in Masur's record than in either of the others, largely owing to his taking a slightly brisker tempo; and he does make it sound more like a finale.
There is also the question of what else to fill a record when the main work takes slightly under 37 minutes. The CfP version (which has a good deal to commend it) is offered at a bargain price, so perhaps one shouldn't complain that they have added nothing more at all. This new one at full price adds the G major Romance of Beethoven, certainly my favourite of the two, though not in this uncaptivating performance and recording. Masur's record adds both the Romances, well played by Ulf Hoelscher. There is also the EMI Eminence reissue of the Oistrakh trio which couples the Beethoven with the Brahms Double Concerto (Fournier and Oistrakh)—a bargain indeed. True, it is a pretty elderly recording but it still sounds very well.'