PRESS

"Spina and Benignetti’s playing offers performances here that rank up there with the luminaries like Badura-Skoda and Demus. Their ensemble, especially in the ever-present dotted rhythms is truly as one.
These two pieces would be reason enough to get this disc. Another, even more compelling one is the world premiere recording of the “Trout” Quintet, arranged for piano duet. It is both a well-known masterpiece and an arrangement that sounds quite natural in a convincing duet performance.That this recording sounds so well with four hands at one piano is a testament to the pianists.
This is a Schubert piano duet recital to enjoy over and over.
Five stars: A Schubert piano duet disc to savor"
James Harrington - American Record Guide

"The Fantasia, however, is, and this performance of it by Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti is indispensable. Therefore, it’s deserving of the highest recommendation.
Five stars: Here is a performance of Schubert’s four-hand Fantasia that really matters"
Jerry Dubins - Fanfare

"Once again, the performers’ sharply-honed synchronicity and elegant articulation and phrasing yield great dividends.
The final portion’s grand fugue is expertly sculpted and articulated, resolving to a heartbreaking, sotto voce reprise of the work’s opening. A worthy performance of a late Schubert masterwork. Overall, a fine recital, most certainly worthy of consideration"
Ken Meltzer - Fanfare

"Both recordings impress on performance grounds and are worthy of recommendation; both likewise testify to the excellence of the duo’s playing and musicality,
making Spina & Benignetti Piano Duo an act one should definitely catch whenever the opportunity arises"
Ron Schepper - Textura

“Their ensemble is spot on, and there is a wonderful flow to the music under their fingers”
(James Harrington - American Record Guide)

2017 Global Music Awards Winner
Best Album, Best Emerging Artists, Best Duo
Lifetime - CD for Sheva Collection Label (Mozart, Rachmaninov and Barber)

"Four magic hands for a piano"
(SBS Australia)

"Por más de una hora y media el público, quien se dio cita desde temprana hora, gozó al máximo de este concierto, además de corroborar el gran talento que existe en los dos integrantes de este dúo de piano."
(El Sol del Bajio, Mexican Newspaper)

"Their two pianos recital will be long remembered"
(Potchefstroom Herald, South African Newspaper)

"Mozart’s Fantasy in F minor K608 is a musical miracle.
The Italian Duo interpreted this work with a impetus that transported us
immediately into the composer’s highest level of genius"
(Paul Boekkooi, Beld, South African Newspaper)

"An excellent recording by a young Italian piano duo winner of many
international chamber music competition"
(Brilliant Classics)

"Eleonora Spina e Michele Benignetti curano con attenzione il suono, rendono in modo preciso il gioco cotrappuntistico della variazione n. 4, scolpiscono un finale in cui sembra davvero di sentire un’orchestra”
(Luca Segalla, Musica, Magazine Italien)

"Eleonora Spina e Michele Benignetti sono da considerarsi tra i più interessanti duo pianistico in Italia"
(Monica Guerci, Il Giorno, Italian Newspaper)

“Les interprètes tiennent parfaitement les équilibres, assurant la fluidité du mouvement et la clarté d’une architecture regorgeant de couleurs"
(Pierre Massé, Pianiste, French Magazine)

"Emozionante il primo tempo con il profondo eloquio brahmsiano fatto emergere dagli esecutori come un sotterraneo filo conduttore"
(Marino Mora, Amadeus Magazine Italien)

"The duo Spina and Benignetti imbue the work’s clarion textures with a
series of lovely characterizations, of which the prized seventh variation –
grazioso – emanates an exquisite loveliness entirely appropriate to a seductive siciliano"
(Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition, international online magazine)

"Ne deriva un’attenzione ai dettagli, una certa voluta spigolositá che elude le tentazioni di compiacimento fino a se stesso, una scioltezza sonora che richiama quanto Brahms fosse un compositore nato esecutore e camerista"
(Angelo Foletto, Suonare News)

“Last Thursday the audience appreciated a concert chosen and delivered to perfection by the duo of Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti”
(Grocott’s Mail, South African Oldest Independent Newspapers)