Frédéric François Chopin

“Chopin's songs might struggle to secure a regular place in the repertoire but at budget price there's no excuse not to encounter a master miniaturist painting on less familiar canvasses.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ***

“A rare opportunity to sample Chopin the song composer, here performed with real feeling by Polish mezzo Urszula Kryger. The dark core of melancholy in Kryger’s voice is fine-tuned to the Slavic melodic contours of a song like The Sad Stream. And her instinctive grasp of both musical and verbal inflection makes for a beautifully understated performance of Melodya, Chopin’s last, heartfelt song of exile” Gramophone Magazine

'Unique among the piano virtuosos of his generation, Leif Ove Andsnes is a thinker, a listener, a keyboard poet' New York Times

“…everything here is a delight. Mompou's miniatures grow under Andsnes's skilful hands, Scriabin exudes his perfume, and Smetana evokes the full-dress glory of Central European domestic pianism. Pieces by Grieg and Johan Halvorsen bring this patriotic Norwegian lad back home.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 *****

“Andsnes here reveals a hitherto hidden side to his art – the salon charmer. Some of the pieces are favourites from his childhood, though it is not every nine-year-old who has tackled Sibelius's uncharacteristically jolly 'Staccato' Etude or mastered Chopin's First Impromptu with such fluency and grace. Appealing, too, is the drama and sweep he brings to Liszt's Liebestraum No 3 (though it will not suit everyone's taste) and his avoidance of cliché, while the Norwegian's own transcription of Halvorsen's Chant de Veslemöy (originally for violin), Ibert's Le petit âne blanc and Debussy's Clair de lune are played with a beguil- ing innocence, ravishing tonal finesse and – most important – palpable affection.
Bravura highlights include Gieseking's effulgent transcription of Richard Strauss's Ständchen and Smetana's Am Seegestade ('By the sea'), reminiscent of Raff's La fileuse and a rare example of a concert étude that opens in one key (B major) and closes a tone lower! Enterprisingly, Andsnes has tracked down a score of Charles Trénet's song Coin de rue transcribed by the coyly named 'Mr Nobody' whom I have no qualms about outing as none other than Alexis Weissenberg.
The whole recital is superbly recorded. As Andsnes himself says, 'It's great to see people walk away from a concert with a smile on their face'. This disc has the same effect.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Andsnes here reveals a hitherto hidden side to his art - the salon charmer. …Ibert's Le petit âne blanc and Debussy's Clair de lune are played with a beguiling innocence, ravishing tonal finesse and - most important - palpable affection. Bravura highlights include Gieseking's effulgent transcription of Richard Strauss's Ständchen and Smetana's Am Seegestade ("By the sea")... The whole recital is superbly recorded. As Andsnes himself says, "It's great to see people walk away from a concert with a smile on their face". This disc has the same effect.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Charles Owen has an admirably light touch, playing with great sensitivity whenever there's a danger of piano domination but is able to adopt a formidable presence in virtuoso passages… Natalie Clein is such a communicative player that we feel compelled to follow her line. Her tone is generally warm and expressive, but capable of receding to a chilly senza vibrato - as for the second subject of the Chopin finale - or rising to considerable intensity. ...whenever the cello is given long, sustained melodies - as in the trios of both Scherzos, and the second theme of the Rachmaninov finale - the effect is quite glorious.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006