Daniel-Ben Pienaar

Pienaar displays his collections thematically, connecting dances and variations, imitative and evocative works that suggest battles and birdsong, that paint portraits, tell stories and write... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, 5 out of 5 stars More…

These are, in short, fresh, spontaneous, original readings that shed new light on the keyboard player's Bible. — BBC Music Magazine, February 2014, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Under Pienaar’s fingers this Byrd soars! — BBC Music Magazine, March 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

His avowed aim in playing Mozart is to avoid the elegance and gracefulness of traditional performance-practice, and to bring out instead the music's nervous energy. — BBC Music Magazine, February 2011, 3 out of 5 stars More…

as different as can be - yet without ever sounding contrived or perverse...Simply put, he makes the Goldbergs sound more like that other supreme set of piano variations, Beethoven's Diabelli... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

I find nothing to criticize; these readings for me capture the spirit of Schubert’s piano style. His playing is at once natural and sympathetic, and blessedly free of artifice. — Fanfare, May/June 2021 More…

He's a thoughtful pianist with a fine technique and beautiful tonal variety. One fabulous moment is his performance of the F-minor Prelude: he plays it with a pale, almost lifeless tone and... — American Record Guide, April 2004 More…

these vignettes are far from dry exercises: they embody the deceptively easygoing lyricism of Faur'e songs, making this an unexpected treasure-trove of his melodic invention. — BBC Music Magazine, November 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Ben-Pienaar certainly holds his own in these gentle, smiling, quirky pieces...[In the Diabellis] Ben-Pienaar is excellent, though he is less well recorded than he should be — BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…