"[W]hat one sees and hears are splendid performances, flawlessly executed and artistically synchronized between soloist and orchestra. Perahia, the prize pupil of Mieczyslaw Horszowski, shares with his mentor a beautiful tone and patrician touch. As an interpreter, he clearly gets involved in both the structural elements and emotional content of the music, but as a post-modernist who is not necessarily historically informed, he imbues the music with poetic sensitivity and drama without indulging in any really idiosyncratic touches. This certainly brings out the structure of the concertos to a great degree. Watching Perahia at the keyboard, there are two things that strike you. One is that, unlike Cziffra or Rubinstein, who almost made piano-playing look easy, one can see every iota of effort Perahia puts into these performances. Of course, by “effort” I mean not strain or tension but a tremendous concentration of the whole body and psyche through his fingers... Marriner has trained his orchestra not only to support but to respond to the pianist’s notions in a way that is simply delightful. The Academy of St. Martin orchestra spreads its members across the stage well, creating a balance of sections that was for many years nonpareil in the field of chamber orchestra playing... The sound is clear and finely detailed, though I was surprised to find that it is in mono... Perahia and Marriner have created here an enduring monument to Beethoven..." -- Lynn René Bayley, FANFARE

Recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1988.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: MONO
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: Tracklisting in English, French, German
Running time: 176 mins
No. of DVDs.: 2

Murray Perahia has often been described as an aristocrat of the piano, and with good reason. There is, however, nothing exclusive or “intellectual”, let alone academic, about his playing. His commanding vision, like his supremely polished virtuosity, is complemented by a luminous intelligence and a poetic sensitivity which has been his trademark from the start, embracing equally the lyric and the epic – just as Beethoven did who combined the Classic and Romantic like no other. Perahia’s Beethoven, with its formal balance, crystalline textures, eloquent phrasing, unfailingly beautiful tone and spacious grasp of large-scale structure, allows us to eavesdrop on the development of a towering genius as he ushers in the birth of an era.

"What a combination! Murray Perahia is a true aristocrat among classical pianists, and Marriner's group is among the finest ensembles in the world. That both soloist and conductor are in complete accord is immediately apparent. The crisp tempi that Sir Neville elicits from his players are just the right seasoning that this thrice-familiar music requires, and makes it hard to decide which of the five concertos fares best—they all do!" -- Giv Cornfield, The New Recordings