Beethoven Piano Concero 5 1st Mov Pt 1 d'Albert Rec 1930

It is a miracle that this recording of a 1930 broadcast performance with the Berlin Radio Orchestra, survived the ravages of WW2. Fortunately, it did and we are able to hear one of Liszt's greatest pupils, a direct musical descendant of Beethoven, perform the first movement. It was Liszt's teacher, Carl Czerny, who first performed the Emperor in Vienna under the composer's direction in 1812, Otto Klemperor is quoted as saying that a 1901 performance of the Emperor by d'Albert was "played in the fashion of a master" and created one of his strongest memories. Many of d'Albert's colleagues considered d'Albert's playing of this work definitive. However by 1930, d' Albert had for years, devoted his energies to composing rather than maintaining his piano technique. There are wrong notes, especially in the recapitulation, but the conception is magnificent. How different from the sterile performances that we so often hear today.