Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.5; Piano Concerto No.2

This selection includes a bonus track of an interview with Dame Myra Hess conducted in June 1962. To start off this album from the BBC archive, Myra Hess gives a commanding performance of the 'Emperor': from its cadenza-like opening, she demonstrates the requisite technique coupled with interpretive strength. This is Beethoven that can roar in full blaze as easily as it can sparkle quietly, and Hess has the wherewithal to portray its full range. Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Symphony provide excellent backing here and in the Second, recorded three years later. Some listeners may find the boomy mono broadcast sound intolerable, but those who allow their ears to adjust to it will find a unique historical document of a great artist giving incomparable performances, even as she approached seventy years of age. The disc closes with a bonus interview track, Dame Myra in conversation with John Amis, of great biographical interest. REVIEWS: International Record Review (3/00, p.32) - "...the B flat Concerto is an important new addition to the Myra Hess discography....this magnetic performance still communicates many of the treasurable virtues that mark out Hess's playing at its finest..."