Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“However many times he has performed the Grieg, Andsnes retains a freshness and expressiveness that never sounds contrived, always spontaneous..., Andsnes is firmly supported by Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic, with playing not just refined but dramatic too” Gramophone Magazine, November 2003

“faster, fiercer, yet more freely expressive than his 1990 version.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2012

“Andsnes penetrates the psyche of this music, and his playing of consummate artistry and insight. Not only does he have keen poetic feeling but magisterial pianistic finesse.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007

“Once again on home ground, Andsnes reminds you of his capacity to go directly to the heart of the matter. Taking you on a journey of increasing subtlety and introspection, he makes you aware that so much of this music is for those long winter nights. At the same time the music is so richly varied: 'Melody's insistent dactylic rhythm creates a strange unsettling poetic ambience, while the central oasis of calm in 'Wedding Day at Troldhaugen' would surely melt a heart of stone.
All Andsnes's performances have that deceptive simplicity which is his touchstone. His playing is always sensitive, never sentimental and with a bracing and essential 'touch of the codfish' (Grieg) when required. And while one would never want to be without Gilels' rapt DG performances (see below), praise could hardly be too high for a pianist who so enviably captures the poignant nature of a composer who Tchaikovsky once claimed had 'a glance like a charming and candid child'. Grieg's piano, with its distinctive timbre, provides an added touch of nostalgia.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“It was the Grieg Concerto that first made the name of Leif Ove Andsnes on disc in 1990. The interpretation remains broadly the same, except that speeds are now rather brisker. However many times he's performed the Grieg, Andsnes retains a freshness and expressiveness that always sounds spontaneous.
That inspirational quality is more markedly perceptible with the new version's faster tempos, but the expressive flights remain just as broad. In that contrast, he's firmly supported by Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic, with playing not just refined but dramatic too in fiercely exciting tuttis. Schumann's cello melodies are gloriously warm, with textures in both works admirably clear, and Andsnes fully responds to Schumann's espressivo and ritardando requests.
Though both Stephen Kovacevich and Murray Perahia are equally spontaneous, they tend not to be quite so free in their expressive flights; EMI's finely balanced digital sound and the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic are also in this version's favour. Andsnes also offers slightly faster basic speeds than his rivals; particularly enjoyable is the free-flowing tempo for the central Andantino grazioso of the Schumann, which you'd never mistake for a simple Andante.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“His virtuosity is commanding but it is never at the expense of tenderness and poetic feeling. The performane, recorded live in Berlin, is ever spontaneous-sounding with soaring flights of the imagination.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“…the engineering… is exemplary in every way, conveying the warm acoustics of Bergen's Grieg Hall with thrilling presence. …playing so enchantingly musical that occasionally one might have thought Barbirolli was at the helm.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2006 ****

“Bergen musicians have lived with these scores since their creation and all the performances here, unfussily recorded in the rich, woody acoustic of the city's Grieg Halle in June 2004, have a relaxed, idiomatic naturalness in their virtuosity.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2006

“This is simply the most beautiful recording of Grieg's string music in the catalogue and one of the most beautiful and realistic recordings of strings we have yet heard...The wonderfully vital account of the Holberg Suite is unsurpassed...The surround sound is in a class of its own.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“Over the night of 13-14 April 1959 in St Gabriel's Church, Cricklewood, a recording session took place, historic in every way, when the young Charles Mackerras conducted a band of 62 wind players plus nine percussionists in Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks. With no fewer than 26 oboists topping the ensemble, it was only possible to assemble such a band after all concerts and operas had finished for the day.
They began at 11pm and finished at 2.30 in the morning, yet so far from sounding tired or jaded, the players responded to the unique occasion with a fizzing account of Handel's six movements.
The success of this extraordinary project fully justified Mackerras's determination to restore the astonishing array of instruments that Handel himself had assembled for the original performance in Green Park in April 1749.
It's thrilling to hear that 1959 recording, at last transferred to CD, with sound that's still of demonstration quality, full and spacious, with a wide stereo spread. It's true that Mackerras takes the introduction to the overture and the 'Siciliana' at speeds far slower than he would choose today, but this was a recording which marked a breakthrough in what later developed as the period performance movement.
As a coupling for the Fireworks Music, Mackerras devised a composite Concerto a due cori which draws on two works written with that title around 1747. It makes a splendid piece, in which the massed horns bray gloriously.
Whatever the degree of authenticity, this is an electrifying collection, superbly transferred.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010