Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathetique'

“on this showing he is significantly more attuned to Beethoven than Chopin, his self-proclaimed favourite composer...we seldom hear these works played with such unmannered restraint: the slow movements are not milked for emotion, while the fury of the fast ones is held in check by an admirable refusal to play to the gallery. The playing throughout is refreshingly disciplined and clean.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ****

“In the Pathetique's first-movement introduction, Yundi's pronounced dynamic contrasts and stable pulse marked by the tiniest expressive adjustments compel serious listening...Yundi polishes the motivic components in the first movement of the Appassionata with impressive surface finish, yet somehow fails to link them into a cohesive narrative.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“The warmth of the colouring, the recording too, certainly makes this Beethoven recital — Yundi’s first — different from the norm. Even when the music indicates something granitic, our pianist still stands on velvet. Drama and impetuosity abound in the first movement of the Pathétique” The Times, 22nd March 2013 ***

“The Appassionata performance seems to me to be supremely satisfying; for sheer boldness of interpretation and brilliance of piano-playing it makes one gasp.” Gramophone Magazine

“Richter's febrile Beethoven is sometimes closer to Scriabin than to Vienesse tradition, but who's complaining? He lives every second. It's richly coloured, vividly phrased: terrific.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *****

“Richter narrates a story employing many voices...The Appassionata was one of Richter’s signature works, frequently performed and recorded. Here, it really lives up to the implications of its sobriquet...You will never hear greater dexterity or more thrilling playing than the way he steers the Presto to its climactic conclusion. This recording remains justly famous for its power and poetry.” MusicWeb International, July 2012

“This programme of three minor-key Sonatas summons from Ingrid Fliter a suitably serious response...The high point arrives with the Appassionata, where Fliter adds more power and agitation to her approach...Fliter's playing may be poised and earnest rather than flashy, but although one might wish for more visceral energy, her intensity and commitment are everywhere apparent.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 ****

“Ingrid Fliter, playing with ever-refulgent tone, here gives us the pianistic equivalent of a careful drive” Classic FM Magazine, 01/08/2011 ***

“it is surely Fliter's cardinal virtue that she gives you a renewed sense of wonder at the composer's pioneering strength and eloquence...it is wonderful indeed to encounter a pianist of such exalted yet natural and unforced artistry.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

“Fliter’s temperament and understanding of the turbulent emotional shifts of Beethoven’s piano writing at this stage of his life (in his early thirties) are refreshing at a time when the market is flooded with well-played but bland interpretations...this is one of the most exhilarating and powerful performances of [the Appassionata] among recent recordings...These thrillingly played interpretations whet the appetite for more.” Sunday Times, 5th June 2011 *****

“The titles of these sonatas summon up a stormy, blood-and-thunder vision of Beethoven. That isn’t Ingrid Fliter’s way. Her approach is grandly spacious, and full of the subtle pedal effects you normally expect in Chopin. This lends the “Pathétique” Sonata a proud, Racine-like pathos which I’ve never heard before...a remarkable disc.” The Telegraph, 9th June 2011 ****

“Throughout the disc his rhythms are crisp and springing, but never fussily overclipped. His tone is similarly “modern”...At the same time Osborne’s brisk contemporary approach never distorts the traditional Beethoven glories...And all are recorded with Hyperion’s usual finesse.” The Times, 30th April 2010 ****

“There is the familiar pellucid tone, the thoughtful and clear phrasing...Along the way, Osborne offers some lovely touches...no one could deny his charm in the Moonlight's Allegretto” Gramophone Magazine, June 2010

“This Beethoven disc...makes one marvel at the way Osborne’s own personality seems able to ally itself with the composer’s, in the way he illuminates aspects of style, structure and substance with clarity, subtlety and dynamism...these performances, deeply thought, vibrant and humane, are full of... revealing insights.” The Telegraph, 7th May 2010 *****

“These accounts of the Moonlight and Pathétique are both clean and powerful...Osborne performs the little G major Sonata, Op. 79 with great clarity and almost severely classical articulation...Perhaps the most intriguing performance here is of the Waldstein's finale” BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 ****

“even in such well traversed musical territory [Osborne] regularly finds something new and interesting to say. There's nothing self-consciously quirky in his playing, but he does have that very special ability to make music that you thought you knew inside out seem fresh and totally alive.” The Guardian, 20th May 2010 ****

“a powerful reminder that nobody plays this music more authoritatively and eloquently...he is in his element, responding wholeheartedly to the extreme physicality that Beethoven brought to music...But the wit and delicacy of the playing are also remarkable.” Sunday Times, 7th March 2010 ****