Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1

“it’s a delight to report that much, though not all, of the music making captured here is terrific...Tempi are swift, with pianist and orchestra perfectly synchronised...Lisitsa refuses to wallow, accentuating Rachmaninov’s jazzy boldness and dark humour...Both works [Nos. 1 & 4] need this sort of advocacy.” The Arts Desk, 13th April 2013

“Ogawa never forces the tone. She ensures that beauty, clarity and richness of sound are sustained at all costs, even in the most thunderous passages...Yet to suggest that her playing is cool, detached and uninvolving would be utterly misleading...By any standards, this is an outstanding release.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 *****

“the first movement cadenza, following pages of insouciant athleticism, conveys more vividly than most the image of someone trapped at the bottom of a dark well clawing their way up its side into the sunlight...The Malmo players under Owain Arwel Hughes offer acutely observed support throughout, with the important wind and brass solo writing subtly highlighted to gratifying effect.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012

“Simon Trpceski, Vasily Petrenko and the RLPO bring understanding and instinct to their performances, and take to heart the different temperaments that each of the three works on this recording manifests...the judicious variety of touch and colour, and ability to reveal important details of the music, combine with an expressive maturity to make these performances utterly compelling.” The Telegraph, 16th June 2011 *****

“The virtuosi Macedonian Simon Trpčeski and St Petersburg-born Vasily Petrenko combine in taut, poetic performances with notably coruscating brass playing from an RLPO on impressive and expressive form.” The Observer, 26th June 2011

“Trpceski captures the music’s protean mood switches to perfection, his mercurial fingers dashing off the vivace flourishes of the outer movements and the most brilliant Paganini variations with insouciant bravura and brio...These performances are a meeting of dazzling musical minds, offering an untraditional approach that never sounds wilful, attention-seeking or eccentric.” Sunday Times, 3rd July 2011 *****

“Trpceski relishes Rachmaninov, thrilling his audience with virtuosic passages which easily demonstrate why these pieces in particular were important vehicles for Rachmaninov the exiled pianist. Petrenko maintains timing and tension, whilst never allowing lush lyricism to become stodgy or overwhelming...this is a musical combination which works superbly.” Classic FM Magazine, August 2011 *****

“[Nos 1 & 4] have never been such sure-fire crowd-pleasers, but Trpceski certainly plays them with fire and passion. No. 1 emerges as big-boned and compelling, while he plays up the leanly modernist aspects of No. 4...Trpceski is aided throughout by the unanimity of feeling produced by Vassily Petrenko's direction of the orchestra, conductor and pianist working hand in glove.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 ****

“Expectations are fully realised in performances of the highest order...Trpceski was put on this earth to play this music and Petrenko to conduct it...This is a riveting disc, another major landmark for Trpceski and one on which Rachmaninov finds interpreters thoroughly attuned to his emotional world.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2011

“Electrifying accounts of these much-recorded scores. Pletnev's staggering virtuosity and tonal sensitivity push the music close to interpretative meltdown.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2006 *****

“With no shortage of fine versions of this pairing from which to choose, EMI must rely on the undoubted selling power of its Norwegian star to make this release stand out from the rest. It is certainly a worthy contender for the Top Ten when aided by the world-class Berlin Phil, a conductor who is in the Barbirolli class of adroit accompanists, superb recorded sound and a beautifully voiced piano.
With judicious tempi (though, as is now customary, slightly slower than the composer's) and a well-nigh ideal balance between piano and orchestra, instrumental detail is tellingly observed, such as the bassoon and clarinet counterpoint at the beginning of the second movement of the First Concerto and the triangle in its finale, both well integrated into the sound picture, even if there is a hint of the engineer's hand.
Nor is there anything mannered about the soloist, though some may wish he was slightly less well mannered. Andsnes here gives the lie to those who find his playing on the cool side of emotional but he is always the reliable guest who never gets drunk, no matter how much alcohol he has consumed.
The fiery section of the cadenza to the First Concerto, for example, runs out of steam in the final bars to which Byron Janis, for instance, brings a despairing vehemence.
The Second Concerto (live, as opposed to the studio First, but without any appreciable difference in acoustic and balance) is, similarly, given a Rolls-Royce reading with which only the pickiest could find fault. The last movement, though, is something special and the final appearance of its glorious second subject, greeted with a mighty timpani wallop and braying brass, is heart-stopping. The audience rightly roar their approval.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Leif Ove Andsnes applies to these two glorious works all those qualities for which his playing is renowned. It’s nothing short of stunning” Sunday Times *****

“Andsnes studiously avoids barnstorming on the one hand or prissiness on the other: his is an intelligent, alert and at times austere middle road, with lightning reflexes in the First and more reserved touch in the Second” The Independent ****

“Leif Ove Andsnes and Antonio Pappano deliver full bodied and intelligently detailed readings of Rachmaninov…Andsnes and Pappano undoubtedly are world-class contenders in a crowded market, and I hope they plan further recorded collaborations” Classics Today

“As Andsnes observed in interview, the conductor is the one who really drives the Second Concerto, and after spacious opening chords it's over to Pappano's Berliners for opulent sweep. Andsnes lets intensity slacken in the development, but the return of the big tune puts us back on track. The slow movement is beautifully moulded, with plenty of now-unfashionable but ever self-indulgent string vibrato.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005