Leif Ove Andsnes: A Portrait

Johannes Brahms (Composer), Edvard Grieg (Composer), Franz Joseph Haydn (Composer), Leos Janacek (Composer), David Monrad Johansen (Composer), Franz Liszt (Composer), Carl Nielsen (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer), Harald Saeverud (Composer), Robert Schumann (Composer), Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Geirr Tveitt (Composer), Leif Ove Andsnes (Conductor, Performer), Paavo Järvi (Conductor), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Norwegian Chamber Orchestra (Orchestra)

Product Details

• Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes
• Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra
• Conductor: Leif Ove Andsnes, Paavo Järvi
• Composer: Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Franz Joseph Haydn, Leos Janacek, David Monrad Johansen, et al.
• Audio CD (January 8, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00005QHVZ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #271,804 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #20 in	Music > Classical > Featured Performers, A-Z > ( A ) > Andsnes, Leif Ove
  #93 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( N ) > Nielsen, Carl

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover a Gem, February 26, 2003

By	Gayle (Norcross, GA USA) - See all my reviews

The Wedding Day At Troldhaugen, Op.65 No.6 - Leif Ove Andsnes' playing is magical! This CD is an exceptional value! I have purchased this CD as a gift and have received positive reviews from the recipients as well!

7 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wake me when it's over..., August 3, 2005

By	John Grabowski (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Naida Cole. Leif Ove Andsnes. Yundi Li. Lang Lang. My neighbor's 17-year-old kid. Classical piano is getting more faceless than ever. Where are the big names, the people who play five bars and you say, "Why, that's....!" I can tell Arrau or Horowitz or Cziffra or Gilels in fifteen seconds. With the present pianist, I'm lucky if I'm still awake after fifteen seconds.

I don't get all the fuss about Andsnes. I really think most of today's classical "stars" are PR-driven creations. This one is, at any rate. He plays almost all the works in these two discs the same, with zero color, zero phrasing, zero individuality. The piano sounds pretty much the same, whether the work be Haydn or Shostakovich. (Listen to Glenn Gould playing works by Byrd, Gibbons and Sweelinck and hear how he manages to suggest the sonority of a harpsichord on a piano. Amazing!) Andsnes avoids contrasts, he avoids abrupt changes in tempo, he avoids inserting his personality into the works, he avoids finding personality--charm, irony, detachment, amusement, even just simple joy--in the works. Admittedly, some of the compositions here are so obscure I cannot really comment on them, because I've never heard them before, am unfamiliar with the composers and don't have comparisons for listening. But for the works that I have heard, you can get a more interesting Grieg Concerto by Zimerman/Karajan (But who'd want to? It's a pretty vapid piece.), a far better Haydn Concerto by Richter if you can find it (it's a shame this witty work--and believe me, in better hands it is witty and it's not amateurishly *rushed*--isn't better-known), a more charming Haydn B minor sonata by Ax--by AX, for crying out loud!, and with him you get the whole thing and not just the second and third movements--and a better Janacek sonata by Firkusny. A better Grieg Op. 43 No.1 can be found by Gilels. A better Brahms Intermezzo, the disc's biggest joke, can be found anywhere--try behind the sofa. The Rachmaninoff is one of the better moments--here, recordings by Demidenko, Horowitz and Rachmaninoff himself didn't exactly blow me away in comparison. (If I have others I can't find them right now.) The Shostakovich Trumpet thingie is surpassed by Jansons and the Berlin Philharmonic, for just one. Some of the smaller works I don't know, but if they have their Norwegian charm, Andsnes doesn't bring it out here. Listen to this disc, and you'll go away with the very popular myth that classical music is this ultra-polished, tidy stuff that's good to have on in your car for your morning commute when you can't get NPR. But you won't have the sound of a thinking pianist, or one who seems to understand the music he's playing.