CD Reviews

EMI Chopin 200th Anniversary Edition - 'Rarities' disc.

‘…the set’s other secret weapon is British wunderkind Benjamin Grosvenor, whose ‘Rarities’ disc was recorded just last year and reveals a sensitivity of touch, general musicality and affection for the music that is staggeringly absent from some of his older colleagues.’

 

Jessica Duchen, BBC Music Magazine February 2010

 

‘…it is the young Benjamin Grosvenor on EMI who has the upper hand in these works, even ousting a master pianist like Katsaris for Sony.’

 

Marius Dawn, Pianist Magazine

 

'Best of all, the remarkable teenage prodigy Benjamin Grosvenor serves up crumbs from Chopin's solo piano table (rarities and miscellany) with uncommon sensitivity, shape, and commitment.'

 

Jed Distler, American Classics Today

 

‘The most recent [recordings] are by young Benjamin Grosvenor, given the task of making something of 12 shavings from the master’s workbench. He succeeds more convincingly that many more seasoned pianists including a delightful Variations in D and two version of the C minor Funeral March.’

 

Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone Magazine March 2010

 

This and That:

 “The 17-year-old pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has garnered extraordinary acclaim over the past few years, and his solo-debut disc thoroughly justifies all the buzz, and then some.  He tosses off three of Nikolai Kapustin's jazz-influenced etudes with effortless aplomb and debonair style. The same goes for his beautifully sculpted Scarlatti sonatas…the pianist characterizes the three Iberia selections with beautifully proportioned rubatos, playful accents, and skillful pedaling.…I hope that this disc will turn out to be the first of many major milestones for this amazingly gifted musician.”

 

American Classics Today - April 2010.

 

‘This phenomenal recital is entitled “This and That”…less modestly it could have been called “One Marvel after Another” for the performances by Benjamin Grosvenor exhibit a skill and talent not heard since Kissin's legendary teenage Russian debut. Even the most outlandish difficulties are tossed aside not just as child's play but with a seemingly endless poetic finesse and resource…To call such playing that of a master-pianist will invite accusations of exaggeration and hyperbole – but what else can I say?’ Full review 

Bryce Morrison, The Gramophone Magazine - April 2010  

 'Throughout Grosvenor plays with awesome control, yet there is nothing schooled about his playing. Repeated notes can shimmer or fire like a machine gun; sonorities range from the carressingly impressionistic to full-throated quasi-orchestral; and he knows when to take his time and when to push the music at full throttle. Indeed, it is hard to know which is the more startling in a pianist still in his mid-teens: the all-encompassing mastery of technique, or the flair and maturity of imagination. He really is a rare talent.'

 

Tim Parry, International Piano Magazine - Jan/Feb 2010 

 

"Not only are his technical abilities mature and amazing, but he is returning to the kind of repertoire that made the 'Golden Age of Piano Playing” golden; and he plays it with the electrifying abandon the pieces need.”

 

American Record Guide - Jan/Feb 2010