CELEBRATED NORWEGIAN PIANIST LEIF OVE ANDSNES RETURNS TO U

ACCLAIMED NORWEGIAN PIANIST LEIF OVE ANDSNES EMBARKS ON A 22 CITY RECITAL TOUR IN MARCH / APRIL 2008 ACROSS EUROPE AND THE STATES

EMI CLASSICS RELEASE BOX SET OF SCHUBERT LATE SONATAS AND MOZART PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 17 & 20 WITH THE NORWEGIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Commencing 2nd March 2008, Leif Ove Andsnes embarks on a major 22 city solo recital tour which sees him perform in Århus, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, London, Prague, Paris, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, Florence, Graz, Vienna, Brussels, Regensburg, Atlanta, Birmingham AL, Strathmore, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Works featured on this tour include selections from Bach: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914; Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Op 27, No. 1 “quasi una fantasia”; Grieg: Ballade in G minor; Debussy: Préludes, selections from Books 1 and 2; Schubert: Piano Sonata No. 19 in C minor, D. 958; Sibelius: select works (all dates and individual programmes are listed at the end of this release).

Leif Ove Andsnes will additionally accompany violinist Christian Tetzlaff on a further recital tour in May (Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Basel, Winterthur, Zaragoza, Alicante and San Sebastián).

Leif Ove Andsnes’ last extensive European solo recital tour was in Spring 2006 and his performances at that time received extraordinary reviews marking him out as one of the leading pianists of today:

“The pianist Leif-Ove Andsnes illuminates the great romantic music ... With Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, three composers which he carries off to a new level of crystalline and clean sound, earning him the reputation as one of the most admired pianists of his generation.“

El Pais

"a round yet slim tone, pliant, almost culinary phrasing, a satin touch to the runs, a full range of colours. Wow: The man is born to play a Steinway."

Wiener Zietung

“Noblesse, mastership, purity and beauty of sound. Four words that describe the essence of Leif Ove Andsnes' piano-recital. The young Norwegian is one of the most interesting pianists of his generation.“

Trouw

Coinciding with the solo recital tour EMI Classics will release a two-CD set featuring Schubert’s three late great Piano Sonatas, D. 958, D. 959, and D. 960. Andsnes recorded the sonatas as part of his enthusiastically received series of Schubert recordings with English tenor Ian Bostridge, which featured pairings of performances of major solo piano works with select songs. Classics Today gave the initial release, featuring Schubert’s epic B-flat Sonata, D. 960, its top rating and called it “One of the most perceptive, sensitively phrased, and technically cultivated interpretations of the sublime B-flat ‘Opus Posthumous’ sonata on disc.” The album was also a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice,” which called the sonata performance “superb” and noted that, “Andsnes grows in stature as a performer with every disc.”

Leif Ove Andsnes opened the 2007/08 season with the EMI Classics release Ballad for Edvard Grieg, a recording and DVD release to commemorate the centenary of the death of Norway’s most famous composer. Andsnes plays Grieg’s stormy Ballade in G minor on both the album and film, and performs the work frequently as part of his Spring recital programme.

The music of Edvard Grieg has long been a cornerstone of Leif Ove Andsnes’s career; his recordings of the composer’s Lyric Pieces for solo piano and the Piano Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic and Mariss Jansons were Gramophone Award winners in 2002 and 2004 respectively. For Andsnes, the Ballade captures the dual nature of Grieg and his tumultuous emotional life perhaps better than any other work penned by the composer, and he says that following the composer’s footsteps for the documentary has greatly influenced his approach to performing the Ballade:

“This work was written in Bergen during Grieg’s midlife crisis; both his parents had recently died, sending him into a long period of depression during which he strove to find his musical direction. Following the early success of his piano concerto, which had propelled him to fame, Grieg had long aspired to write larger-scale solo piano pieces that would continue this success. The Ballade was the eventual outcome but it is in a very different vein from the earlier effervescence of the piano concerto. One can hear in this piece his resignation, melancholy, and anger – an anger that is almost barbaric towards the end. Yet there are also moments of unbelievable beauty, which, in its grandeur and greatness, make it one of his richest pieces.”

In February 2008 EMI Classics release the second in a series of Mozart Piano Concertos in which Leif Ove Andsnes performs with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. This release features vividly contrasting works: the ebullient Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major (K.453) and the stormily dramatic Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor (K.466).

Andsnes’ previous Mozart recording with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, featuring the composer’s Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 18, was named one of the Best CDs of 2004 by the New York Times, which observed, “His stylish accounts of these concertos are among the most revelatory Mozart recordings of the year.” The album received a top rating from Classics Today (10/10 for Artist/Sound Quality) and BBC Music Magazine (5/5 for Performance and Sound), the latter observing, “Theirs is music-making that radiates enjoyment, with splendidly alert orchestral playing, and Andsnes revealing himself to be a Mozartian of unselfconscious eloquence. It’s possible to approach these wonderful works differently … but you are unlikely to find more satisfying performances. Urgently recommended.” Andsnes and the NCO’s first album for EMI Classics, featuring Haydn Piano Concertos, won a Gramophone Award.

LEIF OVE ANDSNES - BIOGRAPHY

Leif Ove Andsnes has been performing regularly in the world’s most famous concert halls since he first attracted international attention in the early 1990s. Playing solo and duo recitals as well as concertos with leading orchestras throughout each season, Andsnes is also an avid chamber musician who joins favourite colleagues every summer in Norway at the Risør Chamber Music Festival. The New York Times has described Andsnes as “the most accomplished pianist of the new generation” while Figaro has referred to his playing as “intimate poetry devoid of false intellectualism“ and The Times as “meltingly sensitive and fiercely transporting.“

In the Autumn of 2007 Leif Ove Andsnes added Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto to his repertoire performing the work in Brussels, Rotterdam, Paris and Philadelphia. Commenting on his Paris concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Gustavo Dudamel, Le Monde wrote “this pianist’s Brahms is spoken from within, without effect, without projection, without "colorisation". The sonority is exact in its tone: the mystery is in its light.“ Andsnes performs the concerto again in January 2008 with the New York Philharmonic and Riccardo Muti and in May with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Other highlights of the 2007/08 season include performances of Mozart concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Germany and Austria; a Mozart tour with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra throughout Spain; Rachmaninov with the Royal Concertgebouw and Boston Symphony Orchestra; Grieg with the Dresden Staatskapelle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as well as appearances at the leading summer festivals including a major recital debut in Salzburg.

Top priority in the summer festival period is given to the Risør Chamber Music festival of which Leif Ove Andsnes is co-director together with viola player Lars Anders Tomter. The New York Times has placed Risør amongst the top 10 music festivals in the world and the Sunday Telegraph recently wrote “The peripatetic life of a top-flight concert pianist means there are few places a musician of such stature can regard as home. At least the Norwegian Leif Ove Andsnes has Risør, beside a fjord about three hours’ drive south-west of Oslo, where at the end of June every year he gets friends and colleagues together for one of the world’s finest chamber-music gatherings ... Will luxurious Salzburg deliver anything as meaningful as little Risør this summer? The 2008 festival takes place from 24 - 29 June and details of the programme and guest artists will be announced in Spring 2008.

Andsnes was born in Karmøy, Norway, in 1970 and studied at the Bergen Music Conservatory under Czech professor Jiri Hlinka. Over the past decade he has received invaluable advice from the Belgian piano teacher Jacques de Tiège, who, like Hlinka, has greatly influenced his style and philosophy of playing. In 2007 he became a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, deciding that it was his turn to pass on musical advice and encouragement to the next generation of pianists. Andsnes counts Dinu Lipatti, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Sviatoslav Richter and Géza Anda among the pianists who have most inspired him.

Leif Ove Andsnes has apartments in Copenhagen and Bergen. When time allows he escapes to the Handanger mountains where he enjoys walking, skiing and the peace of Norwegian nature.

LEIF OVE ANDSNES

SOLO RECITAL TOUR

2nd March – 28th April 2008

Sunday 2nd March Musikhuset Åarhus, Denmark

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27, No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor, D. 958

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Tuesday 4th March Philharmonie Berlin, Germany

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27, No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

GRIEG: Ballade in G minor, Op. 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Thursday 6th MarchKölner Philharmonie, Germany

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E flat Major, Op.27, No.1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SIBELIUS: Final piece from 'Kyllikki', Lyric Pieces, Op. 41

SIBELIUS: The Birch, Op. 24

GRIEG: Ballade in G minor, Op. 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Saturday 8th March Laeiszhalle Musikhalle Hamburg, Germany

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

JANACEK: In the Mist

GRIEG: Ballade in G minor, Op. 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Continues....

Monday 10th March Royal Festival Hall, London, UK

BACH: Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E Flat Major, Op. 27 No 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SIBELIUS: Final piece from 'Kyllikki, 3 Lyric Pieces, Op. 41'

SIBELIUS: Elegiaco, Op. 76, No. 10

SIBELIUS: The Birch, Op. 75, No. 4

SIBELIUS: Barcarola, Op. 24, No, 10

GRIEG: Ballade in G Minor, Op 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Wednesday 12th March Rudolphinum, Prague, Czech Republic

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor, D. 958

GRIEG: Ballade in G Minor, Op 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Friday 14th March Théâtre de Champs Elysées, Paris, France

Friday 28th March

Concertgebouw De Doelen, Rotterdam

Sunday 30th MarchConcertbegouw, Amsterdam

Tueday 1st April

Conservatorio G. Verdi, Milan

Friday 4th April

Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome

Saturday 5th April Teatro della Pergola, Florence

BACH: Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E Flat Major, Op. 27 No 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SIBELIUS: Final piece from 'Kyllikki, 3 Lyric Pieces, Op. 41'

SIBELIUS: Elegiaco, Op. 76, No. 10

SIBELIUS: The Birch, Op. 75, No. 4

SIBELIUS: Barcarola, Op. 24, No, 10

GRIEG: Ballade in G Minor, Op 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Friday 11th April

Musikverein, Graz

Sunday 13th April

Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27, No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor, D. 958

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Tuesday 15th April Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels

BACH: Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E Flat Major, Op. 27 No 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SIBELIUS: Final piece from 'Kyllikki, 3 Lyric Pieces, Op. 41'

SIBELIUS: Elegiaco, Op. 76, No. 10

SIBELIUS: The Birch, Op. 75, No. 4

SIBELIUS: Barcarola, Op. 24, No, 10

GRIEG: Ballade in G Minor, Op 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Thursday 17th April Audimax der Universitat Regensburg

BACH: Toccata in E minor, BWV 914

BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op. 27, No. 1 'Quasi una fantasia'

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor, D. 958

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books 1 & 2

Saturday 19th April Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, Atlanta

Sunday 20th April

Jemison Concert Hall, Birmingham, AL

Tueday 22nd April Strathmore Music Center, Strathmore

Thursday 24th April Carnegie Hall, New York

Sunday 27th April

Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco

Monday 28th April Meany Hall, Seattle

SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata No 19 in C minor, D. 958

GRIEG: Ballade in G minor, Op. 24

DEBUSSY: Preludes, Selection from Books I & II

RECITAL TOUR WITH CHRISTIAN TETZLAFF

26th – 31st May 2008

Monday 26th May

Théâtre de Champs Elysées, Paris

Tuesday 27th May Palais des Beaux Arts de Brussels

Thursday 29th May Vienna Konzerthaus

Fri 30th May

Musiksaal stadtcasino, Basel

Sat 31st May

Konzertsaal im Stadthaus, Winterthur

TOUR PROGRAMME:

MOZART: Violin Sonata in F Major K337

SHOSTAKOVICH: Sonata for Violin and Piano Op. 134

BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108

For more information: www.andsnes.com

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