Gerhard Oppitz & Gianluigi Gelmetti in Beethoven's Choral Fantasie

Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy is one of his most unexpected – and entertaining – masterpieces: part concerto, part virtuoso set of variations, and crowned with an unmistakable foretaste of the Ode to Joy. It’s also one of the most potent surviving examples of how Beethoven’s own legendary skills as an improviser might have manifested themselves in performance – perfect, in other words, for a pianist as immersed in the German tradition as Gerhard Oppitz (a former pupil of Wilhelm Kempff). Oppitz is joined by conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti and the orchestra and choral forces of Stuttgart Radio for this commanding performance from the 15th-century Amanduskirche in Bad Urach.