Leonard Elschenbroich

When the red light in Studio 2 at the famous Abbey Road Studios came on at the start of the recording sessions for Elschenbroich’s and Grynyuk’s latest ONYX recording, the control room had a very different atmosphere. The recording was made using analogue technology – tape recorders, vintage microphones, and longer takes. At no point was the recorded material subjected to a digital process. Elschenbroich wanted to capture a specific sound for these sonatas; the recorded sound of the late 1950s and the 1960s was his goal. The result is a wonderfully intimate, warm yet clear sound, as if the musicians are actually in the room with the listener – not clinical, not a bright superficially impressive digital sound, but a sound that captures perfectly the best recorded sound of the golden years of the LP. Importantly, it is the sound by which the artist ‘recognises’ himself. As Elschenbroich writes in the notes ‘ the listener only needs one pair of ears and the music must come to life in their unique space’. BBC RADIO 3, Record Review’Elschenbroich plays absolutely beautifully. Understated…understated, intimate, conversational, like you are eavesdropping’ ‘The sound is immediate, intimate, spontaneous…very honest. It feels very human.