Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“In Leif Ove Andsnes's hands the D minor Concerto K466 is every bit as demonic as it ought to be, and he's greatly helped by fine playing from the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, with its trumpets cutting through the texture to thrilling effect.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 *****

“…his enviably natural, unforced clarity and musicianship shine through every bar and subtle ambiguity. Very much primus inter pares, Andsnes's sense of give and take as both soloist and director of the Norwegian Chamer Orchestra is as remarkable as his unfailing musical grace.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2008

“After this first foray, Mr. Andsnes may get pressure from Mozart lovers to record them all…his stylish accounts of these concertos are among the most revelatory Mozart records of the year.” New York Times

“Massachusetts-born George Maran's 1955 Decca recording of On Wenlock Edge… an uncommonly sensitive and intimate rendering… there's no disputing the intoxicating spell cast by dedicatee Sir Henry Wood's October 1938 Columbia recording of the sublime Serenade to Music.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“The sole CD premiere is the 1955 On Wenlock Edge by George Maran, a German-based American tenor - pleasant-toned enough but distinctly previous in enunciation, no match for Pears/Britten, or more recent versions.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ***

“Listen to the start of the great Sinfonia Concertante, here replete with an energy which doesn't preclude sensitivity of phrasing or detail of instrumental colour. …Fischer and Nikolic emerge from the opening tutti with a sense of wonder, marking this is one of Mozart's most deeply felt inspirations. ...their interplay in the Adagio is a profound delight.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“In the Sinfonia – one of Mozart’s first masterpieces, written in 1779, on the threshold of his entrance into the pantheon of genius – soloists, orchestra and conductor emphasise the majestic, symphonic dimensions of the opening movement, and they duet rapturously like operatic lovers in the sublime Andante. If you have the solo concerto discs, you won’t want to miss this” Sunday Times, November 2007

“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

“A distinguished series of beautifully presented reissues.” Gramophone Magazine

“it sounds even more spectacular than it did in its vinyl format, vividly catching Beethoven's musical picture of armies clashing.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“An indispensable and self-recommending disc. The lovely Miaskovsky could not be played with greater eloquence and the first Western recording of the Prokofiev (also from the 1950s) sounds as if it was made yesterday.” Gramophone Magazine

“No Arnold collection captures his special magic quite as compellingly as this.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition