Benjamin Grosvenor CHOPIN LISZT RAVEL

Chopin Liszt Ravel is the debut album from the incredible Benjamin Grosvenor. Decca Classics’ new signing made his name as an 11 year old prodigy when he performed at the BBC Young Musician Final, (narrowly missing out to winner, violinist Nicola Benedetti). Still only aged 18, Benjamin has burst onto the performance scene. 

Benjamin is due to receive nationwide media attention when he performs at the First Night of the Proms, which will be followed by a BBC Breakfast News appearance. He will also tour this season with the National Youth Orchestra (and play at their BBC Prom) showing his relevance and support to young classical musicians today.

Grosvenor finds time to articulate clearly and to accent . . . his rhythmic crispness and beguiling touch offer many rewards . . . his trilling and lilting of the C sharp minor Nocturne is simply ravishing . . . the two Chopin songs that Liszt transcribed are pure pleasure -- Grosvenor plays them with affection, charm and just the right degree of elasticity, "The Maiden's Wish" being brought off with irresistible zest and subtlety . . . an impressive account of the Ravel . . . Grosvenor succeeds in creating a tense atmosphere in "Ondine" diverged with much that is suitably poetic . . . Grosvenor electrifies the air with his astonishingly fluent fingers and he judges to a nicety the work's vaporous conclusion . . . Captured in fine sound, faithful to the pianist's range of colours and dynamics, Benjamin Grosvenor's first release for Decca can only be counted a success . . .

(Record Review / Colin Anderson, Classicalsource.com / 19. July 2011)

. . . one of the most individual things about this stunning debut by Benjamin Grosvenor is his pervasive sense of balance and his unerring blend of Classical restraint and Romantic ardour. Nowhere is this more striking than in the First and Third Chopin Scherzos, whose dark anguish coexists with, and complements, a lightness of texture and crystalline articulation. At no point, however, do the refinement and clarity of the pianism compromise the intensity of the drama. He is a virtuoso who declines the mantle of the virtuoso, every gesture being put exclusively and exhilarating at the service of the music . . . Grosvenors's playing exudes joy and spontaneity, seeming to release rather than to interpret the music. He is also a master of mood and atmosphere, with the ability to coordinate colour and structure to a rare degree. Ravel's "Gaspard de la nuit" consistently reveals his exceptional versatility and resourcefulness in this regard, and with him the music always moves . . . At 19, Grosvenor is already a pianist of uncommon distinction.
 (Record Review / Jeremy Siepmann, BBC Music Magazine / 01. October 2011)

The virtuosity is easy to write about, and there's plenty of it. And yet, in the context of what makes this CD really exceptional, mere digital dexterity is hardly the main issue. Benjamin Grosvenor's art is in what might flippantly be called a small print, those intimate moments that only a genuine artist understands. True, he has the measure of Chopin's most mercurial Scherzo, the Fourth, which he performs with a subtle brand of bravura, and his coltish exuberance in the other three Scherzos is much to be admired. His Ravel is gripping . . . perhaps the most telling track is the shortest, an ethereal canvas by Liszt called "En rêve" where every phrase is tellingly placed, every colour skillfully applied, whether with a subtle smudge of a thumb or the bolder stroke of a brush . . . this is the artistry of an era I thought was long gone, the era of Cortot, Horowitz, Friedman, Cherkassky . . . a hugely gifted 20-year-old . . . who can actually make that world come alive, who lives it as authentically as they did. We should rejoice that a voice such as his is thriving among us.

(Record Review / Rob Cowan, Gramophone / 01. October 2012)