It's an all-round winner of a disc, with superlative playing from both soloist and orchestra, and a recorded sound to match. Andsnes's view of the music is fairly traditional...[his] pedalling is a shade cautious, but he plays the piece so beautifully that there are no grounds for complaint...Overall, this looks set to be a highly enjoyable journey.

some of the best Beethoven playing you will ever hear...clearly, this is music that Andsnes has been living with for many years – and it now emerges with an impressive maturity...The crisp, well-sprung playing in the introductions to both concertos could easily be mistaken for that of a period-instrument orchestra

there's a palpable sense of discovery, of living the music...You know you're in remarkable musical company before the piano has sounded a note...Of course, this isn't just down to the players: it's Andsnes's conception right from the start...What's also very striking is that these performances are not simply about elan and energy: they have a sense of gravitas, too, of rightness, that you find in the greatest Beethoven interpreters.

has he gone forward or backward to Beethoven? The answer provided by these superb performances is: both. He has all of the power that Beethoven's writing often requires, yet his playing is also elegant and sometimes even understated...Let the journey continue!

What these performances also have is a quality that is not always quite so obvious when he is alone on the concert platform – a real sense of enjoyment in playing, and the business of communicating that enjoyment to an audience...The incidental beauties – the articulacy of Andsnes's left hand is a marvel in itself, for instance – are all part of that, too.