Press/Reviews

‘Britten’s lithe, blithe and rather underappreciated work was nicely done’ ‘His dreamy tone and sense of improvising made a nice counterpoint to Litton’s unfussy traversal of Britten’s glittering score.’  Guy Dammann, The…

His relaxed, darting and humorous spirit conjured Ariel rather than Caliban, asserting his magic in a cadenza that really did feel as if it were being improvised so that the…

  “an absolutely stunning performance of Britten’s Piano Concerto by Benjamin Grosvenor, whose playing has now gained formidable authority. In this early work, with its clear echoes of Prokofiev and…

 ’His Bach Partita had notable firmness and clarity, with a lovely precision in its ornamentation; the melody of the Sarabande hung like perfume in the air, before being playfully dissipated…

“brilliantly dexterous digits and an interpretive finesse” “Grosvenor gave a performance of the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 that was equal parts clarity, lyricism, and flat-out hair-raising panache. No wonder…

“As you know, Benjamin Grosvenor, 20, is the darling of every pianophile in Britain and beyond. We were there in force to hear his debut recital at the Southbank’s Queen…

“Benjamin Grosvenor may be only 20, but it’s a long time since we had a Southbank debut as keenly awaited as this.” “…he routinely programmes surprises, like a conjuror pulling…

“He walked on with that guileless straightforwardness that comes from complete confidence, frowned at the keyboard for two seconds as if to take its measure, and plunged into the grand,…

“He has a range of colour and expression and a reflective intelligence that would be the envy of a pianist twice, three times his age – the sort of insight…

“Benjamin Grosvenor made his Southbank recital debut last night in a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall in another milestone in his unstoppable evolution from wunderkind to fully-fledged concert star.” “Noticeable from…

  ‘The best moment in this year’s concert came when all were quite silent, listening open mouthed to a red-shirted student pianist make light of the dense tangle of notes…

  ‘Benjamin went for gold’ ‘the pianist’s voice shone out as a sliver of truth: genuine, unsullied 100-carat musicality. The work’s ferocious technical challenges flew past as though effortless’ ‘He…

‘…what a remarkable, exciting talent he is. In contradistinction to the late Prom, the Royal Philharmonic’s concert was packed to the rafters and I put that down to the draw…

“The virtue of Saint-Saens’s second piano concerto, which he played in Prom 43 with Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic, was that its second and third movements allowed him to…

“Thursday’s performance of Gaspard was completely mature and technically secure, revealing all of his considerable strengths. His Ondine was fluidly effortless, a spectacular display of clarity and lightness. Le Gibet…

“It was a prodigious debut, marked in equal parts by Grosvenor’s outstanding technical accomplishment and his interpretive depth… The apex was an outstanding rendition of Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit”,…

“A youth at home at the keys.” “Benjamin Grosvenor, the 19-year-old English pianist who made his New York recital debut at the Frick Collection on Sunday afternoon, seemed the picture…

“In between all of this was 19-year-old British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor’s original and compelling take on Schumann’s Piano Concerto. That all the notes fell comfortably within his prodigious fingers was…

“The brilliant British pianist on how hard work pays off.”

“Grosvenor’s crystalline clarity projected nearly every note effortlessly into the vast auditorium’s spaces. He doesn’t ever have to force for effect…” David Nice, The Arts Desk, July 2011

“…with the appearance of young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, the air came to fizzle and spark with unexpected intimacies, and to gleam with striking flourishes, both solo and ensemble in nature….

“He gave Liszt 2 a terrific outing. From the woodwinds’ beguiling opening invitation, responded to with much poetry by Grosvenor, through to the high kicks of the grandstand coda, there…

“Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto also gave us star glitter and subtle musicianship, in the form of the British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor… Listening to Grosvenor, age seemed beside the point. What…

“This performance showed he already has a perfectly honed technique, able to despatch Liszt’s fearsome double-octaves with unflustered precision. In the slow movement he allowed Liszt’s reflective passages to drift…

“That boy seems to have a sonic variety of liquid gold in his fingers. He’s a natural romantic, sensing exactly how to shape an ecstatic arc and pace a rubato;…

“The evening’s main soloist, 19-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor, later launched himself at Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, revelling in its brilliance and conveying its blend of showmanship and poetry with easy assurance….

“Benjamin Grosvenor, OOTS’ latest associate artist, received a tremendous reception from a well-filled auditorium even before he’d played a note of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.21, K467. After a poised, crystalline…

“After winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition at eleven, he has built up a glittering career as both recitalist and concerto performer…the light, singing touch he brought…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…