Daniel Barenboim – Encores

As a follow-up to his monumental project, the 2020 recording of the complete Beethoven sonatas plus the famous Diabelli Variations, Daniel Barenboim has come up with an intimate and very personal album

“Encores”, created in “his” Pierre-Boulez Hall in Berlin, contains a selection of his favorite encores. Among them, of course, works by Frédéric Chopin (Nocturne op. 15/2) but also other classics of piano literature such as Robert Schumann’s “Träumerei; ‘Clair de lune’ by Claude Debussy, the “Tango” by Isaac Albéniz or the “Impromptu” by Franz Schubert

Daniel Barenboim once again shows his great musical skills on this album and takes the listener into the concert hall with these masterpieces.

Recorded during the era of coronavirus lockdowns, when live audiences and full concert halls were a fanciful dream, Barenboim nonetheless creates an intimacy that makes each piece feel special, playing with consummate eloquence. There’s a meditative feel to much of the music, a sense of quiet focus. BBC Music Magazine, May 2022