“Love of Beethoven’s works threads through Idil Biret’s life like a red ribbon. Her studio recordings and live concerts show this in an unequivocal language… Next to all the Piano Concertos and the Choral Fantasy she has also performed on stage and recorded (on 19 CDs) all the Piano Sonatas and Symphony Transcriptions becoming perhaps the only artist to reach this level of completeness… This knowledge of Beethoven one hears in every nuance in Idil Biret’s playing.” Carsten Dürer (editor), Piano News (Germany) 2012

“Idil Biret not only recorded all nine of the Beethoven symphonies in less than a year but, in a superhuman feat which astounded all those who know about music she also publicly performed all of them in four recitals at the Montpellier Festival in France. To learn and also memorise scores of such length and difficulty in such a short time is a mind-boggling achievement.”Peter Cossé, Fono Forum (Germany) 1986

“Idil Biret, who arriving in Paris at the age of seven astonished Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Kempff and Marc Pincherle, remains a remarkable pianist who combines brilliant technical skill with the subdued touch, the interior voices, of her mentor Cortot…At her Paris recital, Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 106 ‘Hammerklavier’brought us the fighter, armed from top to toe, like a valiant Clorinde, combining the most beautiful of styles with a fabulous virtuosity.” Le Monde (France) 1981

“Talent is what Idil Biret has in prodigious measure. The Turkish pianist made that clear from the start of her recital at Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday night, when she made light of the technical and musical difficulties in Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor.” New York Times (USA) 1975