This month’s issue of Germany’s leading music magazine Fono Forum, features Leif Ove Andsnes on the cover and Beethoven Volume 2 as CD of the Month:
“Leif Ove Andsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra have set out to destroy the stereotype image of the heroic Beethove and grim fate knocking on the door. And they have succeeded. Seldom do the piano concertos sound so slim, transparent and rhythmically sprightly as they do in this recording and when they are not played in the historical performance style. As Andsnes conducts himself from the piano, the interplay with the orchestra reaches an intensity and spontaneity that is unparalled. The tempos are balanced, and the nuances of Andsnes ‘ piano and pianissimo in the famous “Andante con moto” of the fourth concerto evoke memories of the old Wilhelm Kempff. whilst his in-depth approach to the work’s architecture and perfectly executed embellishments reminds one of Andsnes’ mentor, Arturo Benedetti Michelangel. The superb recording technology leaves no wish unfulfilled. Andsnes has now arrived in the pianist Olympus.”
Source: Fono Forum