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The Concertgebuow always sounds great, which is the case here. The strings never get mushy as they sometimes do in recordings of Beethoven piano concertos. Everything is crisp and tight. Haitink also lets fly when necessary, generating plenty of excitement, especially in the final movement. I also love Murray Perahia for what he does, which is a lyrical sort of playing maybe better suited to Mozart than Beethoven. There's no threat of a nasty tone or harshly struck chord, and this has its downside: the reading is polite in spots. There's not as much suspense as with "angrier" players like Stephen Kovacevich, who often seems on the verge of chaos. Perahia's piano is less featured and the overall effect is more classical. You could argue this is appropriate for the material, but there's something viceral about a more aggressive interplay between the piano and orchestra, a la Kovacevich-Davis.
Haitink's backing of Perahia is more crisp and dynamic.
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