The Norwegian pianist and chamber musician Leif Ove Andsnes is consistently praised for his exceptional technical command, clarity of line, and deep musical intelligence. A reviewer from a recent Carnegie Hall recital praised the “light warmth and mastery,” noting an “exquisite mix of technique and insight.” (Grella, NYClassical Review, 2026)
Johan Halvorsen: Suite Mosaique: IV. Chant de Veslemoy (arr. L.O. Andsnes) (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
Beyond the Great Concertos
Leif Ove Andsnes © Gregor Hohenberg
His discography now exceeds fifty recordings, and it includes his celebrated interpretation of the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, which earned a Gramophone Award in 2002. His complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos, recorded with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, has also earned high praise, as has his longstanding commitment to Scandinavian composers.
In 2006, Leif Ove Andsnes released Horizons: A Personal Collection of Piano Encores on EMI/Warner Classics. The disc features 23 short works or movements that draw from his formative years. On the occasion of his birthday on 7 April, let’s explore this charming anthology, which reveals a more playful side of Andsnes’s art.
Leif Ove Andsnes plays Sibelius: 13 Pieces Op. 76, No. 2 “Étude”
Personal Journey
Andsnes has described Horizons as a personal musical journey that reflects different stages of his life and career. In a video interview tied to the release, he explained, “Horizons… is a musical journey in the way that there are many different styles, many different pieces from different countries, different periods.”
“But it’s also a personal journey for me because there are pieces, which I played when I was little and there are pieces that I recently learned and I’ve used as encores.”
Fryderyk Chopin: Impromptu No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 29 (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
Musical Suitcase
He added, “These pieces reflect different periods of my life, because I’ve been playing some of the pieces when I was a child and some of the pieces I’ve added to my suitcase over the years, and then some pieces I’ve played later on as encore pieces in recitals.”
Leif Ove Andsnes – Horizons
Andsnes remembered being a rather shy and insecure boy from the Norwegian countryside, and he credits his piano teacher, Jiří Hlinka, with opening up lots of new horizons. Piano lessons with Hlinka were an enormous source of motivation to keep going, and Andsnes started to feel more secure in his playing.
Alexander Scriabin: 2 Impromptus, Op. 14: No. 1 in B Major (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
Beyond the “Big Stuff”
Leif Ove Andsnes
As he explained, “At the beginning of my career I was almost entirely ignorant of the genre of lighter encore pieces. I was a serious young man, and mostly interested in the big stuff—important music!” (Hill, Classical Music Guide Forums, 2007)
Apparently, Andsnes had been thinking of recording an encore album for many years, and Horizons combines well-known works and audience favourites with lesser-known compositions, leaving listeners with a smile, just as Andsnes intended.
Dmitry Shostakovich: Zolotoy vek (The Golden Age), Op. 22, Act III: Polka (arr. for piano) (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
Favourites and Quiet Voices
Some of the audience favourites include Chopin’s Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 29, Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat major, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words (Op. 67 No. 2), Grieg’s Humoresque (Op. 6 No. 3), the Bach/Busoni Chorale Prelude “Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” and Sibelius’s Étude from 13 Pieces, Op. 76 No. 2.
However, we also find pieces that evoke the natural silence and simplicity associated with his Norwegian upbringing. As he explains, “I was lucky to grow up in a country where we can enjoy silence. To get to the mountains, to hear a brook running, a bird singing, that’s really music for me.” (Andsnes, The Economist, 2002)
Edvard Grieg: Stimmungen (Moods), Op. 73: No. 4. Folketone (Folk Tune) (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
Horizons’ Legacy
The recording includes his own transcription of Johan Halvorsen’s “Veslemøy’s Song” and a couple of Sibelius and Grieg pieces. In addition, we find lesser-known works by Cyril Scott, Federico Mompou, George Antheil, Charles Trenet, alongside a Scriabin Impromptu and Richard Strauss’ “Ständchen” arranged by Walter Gieseking.
By most accounts, critics enjoyed hearing more playful and salon-like pieces. Gramophone noted how the disc reveals a “hitherto hidden side to his art—the salon charmer,” praising the “beguiling innocence, ravishing tonal finesse and—most important—palpable affection.” (Nicholas, Gramophone, 2010)
Since the release of Horizons in 2006, Andsnes’s choice of encores has remained rooted in the spirit of intimacy. During his recent 2025 and 2026 recitals, he has continued to show a preference for the music of Chopin, often paired with Mozart. In an age of pianistic barnstorming, it is refreshing to hear encores that communicate a sense of calm and genuine enjoyment to the audience.
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Cyril Scott: 2 Pieces, Op. 47: No. 1. Lotus Land (Leif Ove Andsnes, piano)
