"At first I thought I'd go mad hearing these works over and over again."

10 September 2012

“At first I thought I’d go mad hearing these works over and over again.”

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— Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes describes how a loop of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 in a hotel elevator led him to a multi-year Beethoven Journey.

“I loved hearing short fragments of these pieces each time I entered the elevator … I found myself again and again getting surprised and overjoyed, and fell in love again with this music.”

Andsnes performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philharmonic September 19–22. The Third is also included in his first The Beethoven Journey recording, out September 11.