Schubert: Allegro in A minor 'Lebensstürme', D947

“Osborne and Lewis predictably reserve their finest, most perceptive playing for the Fantasie, giving its infinitely regretful main theme a different shading on each of its appearances and colouring the work's harmonic shifts and modulations impeccably. None of their performances could be described as routine, though, even when the music is less than top drawer” The Guardian, 4th November 2010 ****

“The quality that shines through in these performances is the way in which Schubert so intuitively judged the special medium of the piano duet...Osborne and Lewis have full measure of its inventive scope on a disc of outstanding, enlivening musicianship.” The Telegraph, 29th October 2010 *****

“This brilliantly planned programme is executed with poetry, drama and verve by two complementary pianists who clearly think as one in this sublime chamber music.” Sunday Times, 7th November 2010 ****

“Though Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne may not immediately appear stylistically empathetic artists, let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. In this repertoire they are as one, touch and tone indistinguishable from one another, playing with a delicious fluency and obvious affection...this is a Schubert disc to return to and live with.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2010

“The Lewis-Osborne duo establishes a slyly (or should that be shyly?) wistful mood in the Andante varie in B minor, revels in the bravura writing of the Variations in A flat...and transforms the severity of the Fugue in E minor into something ennobling. Such playing suggests that they have found the key to conveying Schubert's magical world of shadows and sunlight.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2011 ****

“Two of Britain's finest younger pianists work wonders with the marvels of Schubert's inner landscape...Here are two friends loving every moment of their joint effort. Schubert might have cheered.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2011 *****

“From the opening thunderclap of 'Lebensstürme' it is clear that great things are in store...No-one with a taste for superlative, passionately committed music-making, ensemble of the highest calibre or some of Schubert's most beautiful music can afford to miss this one.” International Record Review, December 2010

“A great new recording of some of Schubert's most inspired piano duets.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2009

“This disc is a feast. Mozart and Brahms wrote good four-hand music, but with Schubert it becomes virtually a new medium, of fabulous richness of texture — social music for the domestic market yet rising to transcendent heights.” Sunday Times, 2nd August 2009 ****

“Skill is what Christiaan Teeuwsen has in abundance. His is playing of total command and confidence that he uses to the service of the music and its creator rather than to self-aggrandizement. He is rhythmically rock solid, never allowing the music to stagnate, and his registrations, while always interesting and bold, are never gaudy or in bad taste. In the abundant toccata and fantasia passages of the preludes he has an impeccable sense of ebb and flow, thrilling the listener with the fast passage work and reining back in just in time to set loose on another delightful ride. In the fugues, he has an excellent sense of line and voicing, bringing out subjects and countersubjects in bold relief against the accompaniment figures, allowing the voices to flow in and out of one another with elegance and grace. He is capable of a fine lyrical line as well, as is exemplified in quieter verses of the partitas, and in the chorale preludes. To round off this fine recital, we have excellent program notes, if perhaps too brief by the organist himself, who speaks well for both the composer and his music. This is the kind of project that leaves a listener eagerly anticipating the coming volumes. What a pleasure this recital is! Buy it!” MusicWeb International