Wilhelm Backhaus plays Beethoven Concerto No4

[uhartchristian]

when I heard Backhaus live it was my first recital I went to, for Backhaus it was his last one.... he died one of the following days. The recording of this recital exist. Was done in Ossiach . These Beethoven Concertos I remeber have watched on television. I think they were live recordings too but am not sure.

[animatetime]

It makes the oldest feel young again. That swirling mix of melancholia and joy, but at least alive...

[Askade1]

This concerto with Backhaus on record - the best version ever! (I own it :-) - with Clemens Kraus and the Wiener Philharmoniker).

[AL3CBACKH4US]

i think im related to him i have the same lastname [:

[TheHanslick]

The recording was made by Unitel in 1967

[ararmaya]

Beautiful.

[prodesica]

Backhaus, una leggenda!!! E come suona!!! Tecnica sicura e chiarissima, concentrazione totale, sobrietà!!! Altro che i clown che girano adesso (su tutti Lang Lang)

[sjperelman]

An old man with the vitality of a young lover, caressing the keys with tender finesse. Noone can fail to see the soul of a man coming through in the music - both the immortal Ludwig, the Piano player, and Bohm keeping the masses in order. Superb, a wonderful transcendent experience. An epiphany. I cry with joy, and regret for what may have been in this world since they played this. What have we done?

[horatiodreamt]

What have we done? We've allowed the "mass man", i.e. the unrepentent lumpenproletariat to seize the culture and degrade it with mental and spiritual laziness. Slovenliness and deliberate stupidity are the order of the day.

[bartje11]

sjperelman and horatiodreamt: thanks for your wonderful posts full of wisdom and panache.

I am glad though that more than 19,000 viewers watched this splendid recording. There is still a tremendous hunger in this world for good music. The good news: 20 million chinese piano students as we speak.

[usc23cal9]

The bad news: you'd be hard-pressed to find a handful out of that 20 million who make music from their hearts the way these old-timers did.

[bartje11]

The good news: you'd be hard-pressed to speak in the name of these people you know nothing about. Lang Lang played in Shanghai Chopin for a crowd of 5,000. You could hear a pin drop. Try that in our culture with the attention span of a fruit fly.

[Mkamalid]

i think this is the deliberate stupidity horatiodreamt was talking about you :)

Music transcends culture/time and place.

you mentioning it shows who's who

[kjw163]

Are you saying that LL is a great pianist?  Just wondering.

[backhausjm]

estoy muy contento de poder ver a mi bisabuelo en youtube, muchas gracias.

im very happy of seen my great-grandfather in youtube, thank you very much

[davlak]

I love Backhaus and Gould and Richter.

This is the best IV concerto ever, IMHO

[gagga96]

Incredible performance!!! Backhaus and Bohm playng Beethoven!! THE STARS ARE IN THE SAME LINE, once in a bilion years!!

[hellomate639]

Well, not to far off from this was Horowitz playing with Mehta playing Rach 3, a piece that Rachmaninov commended Horowitz on playing.

The recording is incredible too.

There's a Fritz Kreisler/Sergei Rachmaninov recording as well.

[dantsos]

His earlier live performance, of March 18, 1956, with the New York Philharmonic under Guido Cantelli, is also an amazing one - every bit the equal of this, and in some ways maybe even "better." Definitely worth a listen!

[rodrigobrizuela]

My teacher always remembers seeing Backhaus perform this concerto, she would say, "An avalanche of a concerto and Backhaus at utmost serenity! Him...he was Beethoven."

[gagga96]

The technical minuses can't influence the miracle named Backhaus! May be Riechter or Gilels are comparable but no one can be "so Beethoven no.4"like Wilhelm the Great. Don't forget Carl Bohm's contribution!

[sgarva20]

good job friends! smiles Baukhouse!

[123rebeus]

anybody knows de date of this?

[kimikimi003]

ベームとウィーン･フィル（映像と音が悪いのではっきり判別つき­ませんが）とバックハウスとの伝説的演奏。これだけの名演が映像­で残っていたなんて奇跡とか言いようがない。この拙い映像からで­も、晩年のバックハウスのタッチが瑞々しく美しかったことが、は­っきりわかる。ベームも機嫌よく調子がいいようだ。

[znewsnej]

Mensch, der alte Backhaus hat noch unter Brahms gelernt. Vielen Dank für's Zeigen

[contentwise]

Though the video and sound quality is low, I can heard the tone colour of Backhaus, which is amazing. I agree that this is one of the best performance of the concerto.

[mimfri]

It was hard to listen out to the music behind the distortions - but it does sound enchanting. Pleasure to see Backhaus' expressions too.

[miaomiaojo1]

thanks but the quality of the tape's...really frustrating

[PianoProductions]

I know! But it is finally out on DVD in full resolution.

[ellandelachapelle]

Good! Can you put it out?

What can you say to this? Beethoven decided to reincarnate? (pure genius.)