Backtrack reviews the Birmingham concert with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedt
“Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes is playing with Blomstedt and the orchestra for the entirety of the tour. He spoke very highly of them before the concert, and a prolonged collaboration such as this must have been a major factor in their refined Beethoven … Andsnes’ performance eschewed any moment of sparkle in the first two movements, instead finding an undefinable mood somewhere between warmth and melancholia. His faultless playing showed great virtuosity in the third movement and he wielded a softly assertive lyricism earlier on. His relatively firmly-weighted playing in the second movement was particularly lovely …”
Source: www.backtrack.com
Author: Rohan Shotton