Choral singing is well-focused from the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir under Grete Pedersen, and the difficult acoustic balance is well judged; but the chief attention here is on Andsnes’s idiomatic, almost gruff piano playing, forever dragging us on to the next painful landmark in the Passion story.

No other pianist (or organist) has taken on this repertoire with such depth and understanding...The chorus – and the soloists in the Stabat mater passages – sing with remarkable purity and focus, even in the more extreme passages; and the sound, especially on the high-resolution version, is superior. All in all, a new benchmark for Via Crucis.

Andsnes is never a pianist who distorts simple writing, and this makes the music all the more powerful. ...This album captures a musician at the height of his powers, in synergy with ideally chosen partners in Via Crucis, all captured in exquisite sound.

Apart from supporting various singers and the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir (the conductor is Grete Pedersen), Andsnes and his piano handle several Stations on their own, all without disturbing the strange drifting radiance that settles over the work as a whole.