Garrick Ohlsson The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos Hybrid Multi-Channel & Stereo 3SACD

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the September 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Reference Recordings is proud to present The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos played by Grammy®-winning Garrick Ohlsson, performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. This album was recorded during live Festival performances in July 2022.

A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson is especially noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date, he is the only American ever to win first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition. Ohlsson has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards®, winning one in 2008 for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) for Beethoven Sonatas, Vol. 3. This new recording represents a pinnacle in his career.

More than 60 years since its humble beginnings performing in a tent at the base of the Tetons, the Festival is now sought after for both listeners and performers alike as a destination to experience the finest in classical music throughout the summer. The Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra consists of top talent from across the world, including more than 220 musicians from 90 orchestras and 65 institutions of higher learning, many performing together each summer for over 25 years. The Festival, founded in 1962, also welcomes yearly some of the most soughtafter soloists and visiting artists in classical music today. Under the baton of world-renowned conductor Sir Donald Runnicles since 2005, these musicians come together to gather inspiration from the mountain setting and to provide spectacular music for Festival audiences.

In addition to being Music Director of GTMF, Sir Donald Runnicles is General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB) since 2009, and in his final season as Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony since 2001. Runnicles enjoys close and enduring relationships with many of the most significant opera companies and symphony orchestras. His recording of Wagner arias with Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin won the 2013 Gramophone prize for Best Vocal Recording, and his recording of Janáèek's Jenùfa with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin was nominated for a 2016 GRAMMY® award for Best Opera Recording.

Reference Recordings, founded in 1976 in San Francisco, has won multiple GRAMMY® awards and a catalog that includes numerous American and international orchestras, ensembles and choruses. FRESH! is part of Reference Recordings' mission to encourage unique and fine artists, and give them a strong platform for promotion and sales nationally and internationally.

The soloist is the great Garrick Ohlsson, whose playing has wonderful character and personality, always derived from the music—nothing idiosyncratic, eccentric, or self-regarding, everything exquisitely phrased, opening movements dramatic, lyrical, or heroic; slow movements sung with great depth of feeling; last movements relishing Beeethoven's wit, humor, and joyous exuberance. Soloist and conductor share a rare equanimity, Runnicles coaxing a rich, warm, vibrant sound from the 55-strong Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, made up of top-flight players from around the country. Reference Recordings has outdone its considerable self with the sonics, using the classic Decca 'Tree' with updated Neuman M150 tube microphones for a perspective that eschews audiophile spectacle in favor of a window onto what could easily be mistaken for a 19th-century European concert hall. The balance between piano and orchestra may be the most realistic of any concerto recording I own. Music, musicmaking, and recording of the highest order—do not miss.

The partnership between Ohlsson and the orchestra...is lively throughout, and Runnicles gets excellent results from what is likely essentially a pickup group; the orchestra is moderately sized and agile. Superb live recording from Reference Recordings, discussed in detail in the booklet, is another draw.