The trite comment blanketing Lortie's Beethoven as "**" shows how
little the person has explored this artist's summithunt. Grammophone's
discouraging review of #29 was biased. His innerrelationship with the
manuscript is levelheaded and unobtrusive. His #15 is elagiac and although
his #13 does not reach the heights of Barenboim, Ashkenazy or Schnabel,
Chandos has recorded his performance wonderfully. Although his #26 is
disappointing, the rest of his ongoing set is recommendable. I do not
believe that Chandos promotes or fully appreciates this set the way it
should. I am sure these will be benchmarks for future complete sets.
The last time I felt this strong about someone's Beethoven set and felt
it underappreciated was with Bishop's Philips releases.
jwc/wi/usa