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CD, 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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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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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: 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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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. 3 & 4
RecommendedMaria João Pires (piano)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Harding
Never for a moment does she over-reach herself or force pace and sonority...Few pianists have ever been more true to their own lights and it is hardly surprising that her many performances of... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, October 2014, Editor's Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2014
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Gramophone Awards, 2015, 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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This is an achievement on a pretty spectacular new level, and the range of musical sensibility she demonstrates here is vast...her rhythmic sense [in the Ligeti] keeps the music aloft and totally... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2024, Editor's Choice
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BBC Music Magazine, August 2024, Insturmental Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalists 2024
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Solo Instrument
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What impresses above all in this recording is the deep inwardness of the playing. This is not one single performance; it's the distillation of a lifetime's performances of these seminal works.... —
Awards:
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2026, Recording of the Month
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