Reviews

2010

  • June 25th - Singapore International Piano Festival, Recital
    •    Straits Times, Dr Chang Tou Liang

      "His Chopin, two Nocturnes book-ending the Third Scherzo, juxtaposed seamless cantabile with scintillation and immaculate octave-work. Ravel's devilish Gaspard de la nuit bristled, not just with stunning note-perfection but a multi-layered appreciation of its three movements; the variegated rippling of Ondine, desolation in Le Gibet and Scarbo's impish malevolence."

  • March 6th - Gauting,Germany, Recital
    •    Der Süddeutschen Zeitung, Reinhard Palmer.

      ‘A Keyboard Visionary…The ‘vocabulary’ of Grosvenor’s ‘piano dictionary’ knows no bounds. Like a painter, he sketches scintillating moods in Ravel’s ‘Gaspard de la Nuit.’ And Liszt’s B minor Sonata matures into a grand unity…the refreshingly modest Grosvenor mastered even the most virtuoso finger-acrobatics with natural ease. Not for one moment, however, was it Grosvenor’s intention to emphasize his technical skills. On the contrary, he withdraws himself in the most demanding passages so that the listener can concentrate on the musical substance underlying the dazzling side-effects. Especially in this trait, Grosvenor’s unlimited abilities and his extraordinary range of musical expression are evident.”  Read More

    •    Der Starnberger Merkur, Arno Preiser.

      [in the Liszt Sonata] “thundering climaxes and effective accelerations had room to evolve. Grosvenor’s interpretation suggested orchestral grandeur as well as the intimacy of chamber music. Grosvenor interpreted Ravel’s ‘Gaspard de la Nuit’ as an echo of the dreamlike juggling of romantic arpeggios and a bursting forth from impressionistic experimentation with magical sonorous combinations into the realm of the ‘Modern’ ”

  • February 28th - Macalester College, USA, Recital
    •    St. Paul Pioneer Press - Rob Hubbard

      "What those fortunate enough to find a seat experienced was a 17-year-old artist who seems able to channel the emotional storms of adolescence into high-contrast interpretations of Romantic masterworks and their 20th-century antecedents. His was a performance of tumult and beauty, in which he displayed tremendous technical skill and interpretive depth" wrote Twin Cities' critic Rob Hubbard of Benjamin's recital for The Frederic Chopin Society of Minnesota, commenting on the performance of Liszt's B minor Sonata, a work dedicated to Schumann, that "Grosvenor found the connection to that composer with his high-intensity shifts between darkness, fury and resignation". Review Online

  • February 21st - Gilmore, USA, Recital
    •    Kalamazoo Gazette - C.J. Gianakaris

      "He exuded superb musicality...The pianist created unearthly fluttery figures in [Chopin's] Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39, giving it a spiritual dimension...Ravel's brilliant 'Gaspard de la nuit' closed the recital. The full house was hushed in anticipation. As suits a movement involving Ondine, the seductive mermaid, Ravel composed music suggesting water. Grosvenor magically conjured it using glissandos and chromatics...His was a tour de force performance." Review Online

2009

  • November 14th - Kymi Sinfonietta, Beethoven 3, Helsinki, Finland
    •    Helsingin Sanomat

      "The name of 17-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor, who well merits the title of Wunderkind, tends on the whole to feature only in the concert calendars of the world's best-known orchestras... this young man with the air of a sensitive, poetic lad, makes the substance, the heart, the meaning of the music simply flow from the piano. Just when you think you have heard the most delicately glittering note, the pianist plays some more: even clearer, more delicate. Never before has the meaning of the Largo been more obvious. The cadenzas in the Allegro con brio and Rondo sparkled with animated brilliance."

  • May 20th - Ulster Orchestra, Grieg, Dublin
    •    The Irish Times - Michael Dervan

      He brought real freshness to the Grieg, from the impetuous opening to the soulfulness of the slow movement to the sparky finale. Review Online

  • January 25th - Philharmonia, Grieg concerto, Royal Festival Hall
    • Daily Telegraph - Geoffrey Norris

      The dash and vim of the finale capped a performance that took its expressive and dramatic cues from the very heart of the music, and in so doing crafted an interpretation of palpable character and astute panache. Review Online

    • classicalsource.com - Alex Verney-Elliott

      "Grosvenor displayed a virtuoso combination of subtle agility and muscular strength producing poetic lyricism juxtaposed with drama; and he had a great rapport with the attentive Lazarev" Review Online

  • January 25th - Philharmonia, Grieg, Royal Festival Hall
    • Daily Telegraph - Geoffrey Norris

      The dash and vim of the finale capped a performance that took its expressive and dramatic cues from the very heart of the music, and in so doing crafted an interpretation of palpable character and astute panache. Review Online

    • classicalsource.com - Alex Verney-Elliott

      "Grosvenor displayed a virtuoso combination of subtle agility and muscular strength producing poetic lyricism juxtaposed with drama; and he had a great rapport with the attentive Lazarev" Review Online

2008

  • May 23rd - ECO, Chopin 1, Cadogan Hall
    •    Daily Telegraph - Geoffrey Norris

      The centrepiece of this English Chamber Orchestra programme was a beguiling, stylish and richly rewarding performance of Chopin's E minor Piano Concerto played by the 15-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor. His was an interpretation with a personality and impulse of its own, while remaining true to Chopin's spirit. Allied to that was the sheer beauty of his sound and his astute palette of colours. Particularly, in the central Romanze, the subtleties of shading revealed a deep affinity with the way Chopin drew on nuances produced by fine gradations of weight and phrasing.

  • February 14th - Perth Recital
    • Strathearn Herald

      There is real power, too, and the wisdom to use it sparingly, as well as tenderness and sensitivity and a sense of flow which encompasses everything from the shortest span of a sonata by Scarlatti to the mighty challenges of Chopin's in B minor.

    • The Herald

      The fleetness of the finale was no act of showmanship but the climax of a convincingly integrated recital.

    • Perthshire Advertiser

      Benjamin Grosvenor started with three contrasted Scarlatti Sonatas, which made full use of the resources of the piano in varying volume, touch and rubato. He clearly articulated Scarlatti's Spanish sounding fingerprints, including vivid repeated notes. The third sonata was played with such narrative skill that you could almost suspect a Beethoven- like drama behind it.

  • February 2nd - Bermuda Recital
    • The Royal Gazette

      Certainly he appeared to thoroughly enjoy performing the three pieces from Iberia (Book 1). Impressionist in style, they paint a haunting, mysterious and exotically beautiful landscape, and each one provided him with the opportunity to demonstrate his interpretative prowess as well as his dazzling technique.

2007

  • October 31st - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, (Chopin 1), Poole
    • Bournemouth Echo

      At 15 years old Grosvenor's maturity of purpose, emotionally and technically, gave full range to Chopin's youthful Piano Concerto No.1.The gentle Romance conveyed here with a very real feeling for beguiling beauty and tintinabular timbre. His flawless fingerwork dispatched the virtuoso finale with audacious aplomb. Bravo.

  • October 28th - North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, (Chopin 1) New Bern
    • Classical Voice of North Carolina

      His touch can be light, delicate, and yet fully intentional. He is equally at home when using the piano as a violent percussion instrument.

2006

  • November 6th - Wigmore Hall Piano Recital
    • Daily Telegraph

      Grosvenor’s Chopin group after the interval harnessed both the lyrical and the muscular impulses of the Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante;the F sharp major Nocturne Op 15 was aptly shrouded in languor and nostalgia, the decorative flourishes limpid.

  • August 26th - West Bohemia Symphony Orchestra, (Chopin 2) Marianske Lazne
    • Chebsky Denik

      ...a fine threadlike yet fully audible pianissimo ... electrifying entrances of solo playing."

  • July 20th - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, (Mozart K467), Welsh Proms, Cardiff
    • South Wales Echo

      His technique was flawless, not a single note out of place, and he constantly captured the essence of the music especially in the sublime slow movement which brought out the utter elegance of every note.

  • May 21st - Minnesota Chopin Society Recital
    • Minneapolis Star Tribune

      Benjamin's Mozart ... was shapely without being prettified, the passagework almost flawless. Clearly this is a pianist who thinks of a work's structure, its long line. He gave the slow movement just the right vocal quality, as if it were an aria, and the finale rippled along effortlessly.

2005

  • November 19th - Chopin 2nd Birmingham Schools S.O. Boult Hall Birmingham

    • ...a young performer whose innate musicianship matches or even outstrips a formidable technique... [a] genuine phenomenon.  Read More

  • October 20th - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Chopin2), Royal Albert Hall
    • Evening Echo

      The final Allegro Vivace was delivered with a coquettish flourish by a performer who was clearly in his stride and apparently enjoying every moment.

    • Evening standard

      Grosvenor's delicacy was refreshing his sense of rhythm supple.

  • February 12th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo),Glasgow
    • Daily Telegraph

      Benjamin’s performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto K415 was a colourist’s dream with rich dark hues and sparkling fanciful figurations.

  • February 11th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo), Dundee
    • Dundee Courier

      The highlights of this were many, but I must pick out an electrifying first movement cadenza, a lovely delicate Andante and parts of the Rondo that were simply sensational.

  • February 10th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo), Edinburgh
    • The Herald

      The gusto and ebullience of his fingerwork reflected the music itself..........his handling of Mozart's C major Piano Concerto, K415 [was] crisply articulated and conspicuously alert to Mozart's mood swings

  • February 9th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo), Perth
    • Perthshire Advertiser

      The slow movement Andante demonstrated a depth of feeling in his playing with an outpouring of lyricism and mature understanding.

  • February 8th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo), Aberdeen
    •    Aberdeen Independent

      Benjamin .......played with all the passion, verve and courage of an old master....... the Britten piece was pure bravura from start to dazzling finish.

  • February 7th - Scottish Ensemble (Mozart K415 and Britten's Young Apollo), Inverness
    • The Scotsman
         Mozart K415/Britten's Young Apollo

      [Benjamin] interacted with the group like a seasoned professional, and sailed through both technical and interpretative difficulties with sublime poise.

2004

  • October 28th - St Georges Hall - Bristol
    • Bristol Evening Post

      Chopin’s Nocturne in D Flat was given a rendition of such maturity that one was sometimes thinking of Rubenstein in his prime.