Download, Beethoven (composer)
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Every phrase, every note of this Op. 109 sounds deeply thought-through...This disc continues the progress of Ólafsson as one of the great individual pianists of our time, imaginative and original... —
Awards:
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2025
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Presto Recording of the Week, 21st November 2025
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BBC Music Magazine, February 2026, Recording of the Month
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an essential recommendation for any collection. These are performances which seem to present a Beethoven 'for the ages', a distillation of a long interpretative tradition, without concern for... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, 100 Greatest Recordings
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Building a Library, October 1999, First Choice
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Building a Library, October 2007, First Choice
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Building a Library, January 2016, First Choice
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1970s
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Beethoven & Stravinsky: Violin Concertos
Vilde Frang (violin), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Pekka Kuusisto
Frang’s exquisite tonal subtlety and enhanced range of dynamics allows her to weave in and out of Beethoven’s carefully graded orchestral textures, with a profound sense of listening and responding... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2022, Concerto Choice
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Winner - Concerto
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Gramophone Awards, 2023 Finalists, Shortlisted - Concerto
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Beethoven & Berg: Violin Concertos
RecommendedIsabelle Faust (violin)
Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado
listening to these wonderful performances side by side is cathartic...The journey is vividly delineated from the outset of the Berg. With Abbado drawing sonorities from his first-rate orchestra,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th February 2012
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Building a Library, October 2015, First Choice
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2013, Orchestral Finalist
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2012, Disc of the month
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Gramophone Magazine, March 2012, Disc of the Month
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Presto Favourites, Recommended Recording
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Gramophone Awards, 2012, Winner - Concerto
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Beethoven: Missa Solemnis in D major, Op. 123
RecommendedLaura Aikin (soprano), Bernarda Fink (alto), Johannes Chum (tenor) & Ruben Drole (bass)
Concentus Musicus Wien & Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Nikolaus Harnoncourt
He has achieved something remarkable, a performance that is heaven-storming despite the small forces employed. The key is that every singer in the chorus and solo quartet has been encouraged... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 3rd June 2016
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2016, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2016
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted - Choral
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Building A Library, July 2022, Also Recommended
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Beethoven: Complete Piano Concertos
RecommendedKrystian Zimerman (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
It is appropriate that the peak of Beethoven’s orchestral artistry should be scaled by two musicians also at the height of their powers: these performances are as near-definitive as I ever expect... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 16th July 2021
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2021, Recording of the Month
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Concerto
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Concerto
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The [Goldberg] Aria sings without affectation as if to emphasise that what follows isn't about the theme but what happens to it...Unstarchy too is Levit's approach to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations...As... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 16th October 2015
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BBC Music Magazine, January 2016, Disc of the month
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2015, Disc of the Month
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Building a Library, June 2017, Also Recommended
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2015
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2016, Winner - Instrumental
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Dueñas’s performance favours the Concerto’s abundant lyrical qualities. In the magical Larghetto she combines unaffected simplicity with rich sentiment while her account of the ‘Rondo’ is certainly... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 5th May 2023
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2023, Shortlisted - Debut Solo Album
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International Classical Music Awards, 2024, Nominated - Concerto
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2023
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2024, Winner - Young Talent of the Year
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Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5
Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano), Freiburger Barockorchester, Pablo Heras-Casado
These are invigorating performances of Beethoven’s first and last concertos, conveying an admirable sense of spontaneity…The entire performance [of No. 2] radiates energy and enjoyment… Bezuidenhout... —
Awards:
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Record Review, 15th February 2020, Record of the Week
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2020, Concerto Choice
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Conductor of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2020, Nominee - Instrumentalist of the Year
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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Her Diabelli Variations are a triumph of wit and character…Yet it's in her handling of the profundity lying beneath that Uchida makes her *Diabellis* stand out. Underneath the constantly changing... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, July 2022, Instrumental Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Winner - Piano
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Grammy Awards, 65th Awards (2023), Nominee - Best Classical Instrumental Solo
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2022
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International Classical Music Awards, 2023, Nominated - Solo Instrument
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The Guardian Classical Albums of the Year, 2022
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