Classic 107 - Winnipeg CAN Host Chris Wolf had the opportunity to Zoom chat with world renowned pianist Benjamin Grosvenor about his latest recording. A recoding featuring the music of Liszt. The English pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is one of today's most sought after pianists. Ever since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 12 in 2004, Grosvenor has developed an International career that has seen him perform with the world's top Orchestras and make several award winning recordings on the Decca Record label. Benjamin Grosvenor's latest release that comes today, February 19, 2021 features the music of Liszt…and not just any Liszt! Grosvenor has recorded some of the most difficult and monumental music that Liszt ever composed: Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178 Berceuse, S. 174ii Tre sonetti di Petrarca, S. 161/4-6 Réminiscences de Norma, S. 394 (after Bellini) Ave Maria, S. 558/12 (after Schubert) When asked why Grosvenor chose to record the music of Liszt Grosvenor says "He had so many sides to him as a person but also as a musician…some composers I suppose, if you were to devote and entire disc to them you might worry about a lack of variety, but with Liszt and his compositional output, there's such a lot of variety and there is also the fact he was such an incredible transcriber of other people's music. He had amazing gifts in taking a whole opera and summarizing it in to a paraphrase of 15 minutes." What Grosvenor is referring to is his recording of the Reminiscences de Norma (after Bellini) that can be found on this latest disc. A piece that demands that the pianist is totally secure in his technique, and also that he has a clear idea of the narrative that Liszt is trying to get across in the music. Grosvenor succeeds in spades on both counts! The centre-piece of his latest recording is the vast and expansive Liszt B minor sonata. This is a sonata that would send lesser mortal pianists running for the exit due to its technical requirements, intense interpretive demands, and need for sheer endurance needed by the pianist. The piece is in one large chunk that lasts roughly 30 minutes. As Grosvenor says "It's a piece to be consumed in its entirety" And what a feast! Grosvenor has shown that he is clearly up to the task. He has made a recording that is 30 minutes of sheer delight. The interpretation is engaging, and interesting; this combined with Grosvenor's technical perfection and innate ability to sing through the piano make this truly a musical banquet; complete with sides, tea and fine French pastries. "It's an extraordinary journey filled with so many different emotions…throughout there is this kind of contrast between the divine and the diabolical," says Grosvenor. "There is this sort of devilish element which he sets out in the characters that we hear on the very first page...In terms of the structure, the whole piece is developed from material we hear in the first minute of the piece." Throughout so many of his recordings and performances Benjamin Grosvenor has proven himself to be a master of lyricism and the ability to change tonal colors at the drop of a hat, as the music requires. This element of Grosvenor's playing comes shining through in his interpretations of the three Petracha Sonettos that come from Liszt's 2nd Book of Years of Pilgrimage. These pieces can also be found on the disc. "They are intimate works, they are inspired by poems of the 14th century poet Petrach," Grosvenor says. "They are all love poems essentially, and Liszt picks three that offer three contrasting visions of love." Here again Benjamin Grosvenor manages to bring out the tenderness and also the dramatic aspects of these three pieces. This latest recording of the music of Liszt marks not only his latest triumph on record, but it also marks Grosvenor's renewal of his contract with Decca Records. "It's great to be continuing my partnership with them. I've recorded for Decca for ten years now, I signed when I was 18. I hope there will be many more years to come, and I look forward to the next few discs we have with this contract." For us as listeners let's hope the partnership Grosvenor has with Decca is long and fruitful, because if this if this latest disc is anything to go by, it is going to fantastic partnership! If you missed Chris Wolf's conversation with Benjamin Grosvenor, you can see the entire Zoom conversation here:

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances, distinctive sound, and insightful interpretations. The album Liszt signifies his most substantial solo recording to date, centered around the works of the Romantic piano virtuoso and composer Franz Liszt. Grosvenor says, "The music of Liszt has been central to my repertoire since I was introduced to it as a child, by my grandfather. I wanted with this recording to show the composer in his different aspects, including some of his original compositions, but also displaying the extraordinarily re-creative abilities he showed in his transcriptions." For February 19, 2021 - Benjamin Grosvenor - Liszt is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'

99.5CRB - Boston's Cathy Fuller writes.....Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor talks about his personal and passionate testament to the visionary spirit of Franz Liszt, prepared and recorded in the dark months of COVID. Grosvenor is twenty-eight, and yet his remarkable musicianship has been capturing the hearts of the public for a long time. He won the BBC Young Musician Competition at eleven, when his imagination and technical prowess were already producing an uncanny brand of maturity and sparkle. Now, in isolation as the COVID lockdown drags on in London, he has focused on the kaleidoscopic output of Franz Liszt. In our conversation, he talks about being so close to Liszt, while remaining so distant from life as it used to be. (See a full transcript below.) Building around the epic Sonata in B minor, Grosvenor includes the magical (and ferociously taxing) Reminiscences of Norma, as well as the three Petrarch Sonnets from the exquisite Years of Pilgrimage. Also included is a haunting account of a rarely-played version of the Berceuse and the beautiful reworking of Schubert's song Ave Maria. The result is a fresh and loving recording, dedicated to the grandfather he recently lost, who inspired Benjamin to play the piano in the first place.   The challenges in Liszt's music are many and monumental, like pacing the climaxes as they arrive one after another (as in his transcription of themes from Bellini's Norma), or getting a melody to sing out with your thumbs while the rest of your fingers are busy conjuring elaborate atmospheres (in the Ave Maria). One of the greatest challenges is in the Sonata, keeping an immense, over-arching structure intact while moments of beauty erupt spontaneously. As Grosvenor said in our interview, "Only as time progresses do you realize that it's actually part of this great master plan that [Liszt] has, that goes over the massive breadth and length of this piece."   LISTEN TO THE 99.5CRB - Boston SEGMENT

89.1WMHT: Schenectady NY's Rob Brown writes....When British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor was just a boy, his grandfather, an amateur pianist, introduced him to the music of Franz Liszt. Grosvenor's new recording on Decca Records is all music of Liszt. Grosvenor said, "I wanted with this recording to show the composer in his different aspects, including some of his original compositions, but also displaying the extraordinarily re-creative abilities he showed in his transcriptions." SEE THE PAGE & LISTEN

The New York Times - David Allen writes....For his new album, Benjamin Grosvenor delved into historical recordings of the daunting Sonata in B minor. "This is music that's probably not supposed to be played cleanly," Benjamin Grosvenor said of Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, the centerpiece of his new album. How do the great musicians prepare to play the great works? Each has his or her own methods, and tends to keep the strategy quiet, a secret key to success. One thing that distinguishes the subtle Benjamin Grosvenor, 28, from the rest of the pack of young star pianists is his extensive knowledge of historical recordings. This listening has paid off in a spellbinding Liszt recording out on Decca on Friday, crowned with a typically thoughtful account of the treacherous Sonata in B minor. "I almost feel like you should know the notable recordings of a work like this," Grosvenor said of the sonata in a recent interview. "More than anything, it helps you understand what works and what doesn't work. You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively, and that fuels your imagination." What do you think about the opening bars of the sonata, which are so spare compared to what follows? It's foreboding, and mysterious, and a little bit threatening. It would be quite interesting to just line up eight recordings of the first bar. For someone who is a music lover but who is not that acquainted with putting a piece together, it might just be interesting to hear how two notes can essentially be interpreted in so many different ways. There are many valid approaches. What Vladimir Horowitz does in a large hall in his Carnegie recording, this kind of demonic thing, works very well. Cherkassky's is interesting; it sounds like he's improvising, like it's something that's just come to him in the moment, but it's obviously conscious because he executes it in the same way at the end of the slow movement as well. I was aiming for something mysterious, almost - so the notes are not too present. They're quite soft, very much like plucked strings, the bass more in it than the treble, like what Alfred Brendel does. So comparisons with orchestral sounds help you define what you are trying to achieve, even in a work as pianistic as this? As a pianist you've been playing the piano all of your life; you have a natural association with piano sound. So it's only when you're forced to put it into words that you try to make those associations. But it is an appropriate way to think, because, for most composers, the piano is always trying to imitate other instruments, because of its nature as a percussion instrument. Again, it's a line of thought that adds fire to the imagination, and the colors that you then draw out. One of the challenges in the piece is how to create tension over the whole, or even just over shorter periods of double octaves, or continuous fortissimo dynamics. You picked out a section near the start as an example. In this double-octave passage there is a lot of fortissimo playing, and you vary that in terms of dynamics, but the meter is the same for a while, with these continuous quavers. Horowitz, in the final rise and descent, just pushes through. There's lots of wrong notes, but it's raw. It's exceptionally difficult because of the octaves, but if you can push through it in that way I think it's very effective, all the way to the lowest note on the piano. So when you are playing the piece live, does atmosphere matter more than precision in passages like this? Yes, this is music that's probably not supposed to be played cleanly. Part of the struggle is, it is technically difficult, but that's what makes it exciting. Someone said of Horowitz that his playing is not exciting because he plays fast, but because he plays faster than he can. In this music there's an element of that. Lupu generates the tension in a different way; it's tension by holding back, by creating a limit that you're working against. Then the slow movement poses quite different challenges. It's magical music. The most incredible bit for me is this ascending line in the right hand, the scales after the climax. It's the most static point of the piece, and a groove needs to be found between static to the point of no motion, and finding the magic that's in it. Not to play it too casually. Claudio Arrau there is very special; it's such a wonderful moment with these triple pianissimos - finding that beautiful color, and where to take the time. Then comes the fugue, a moment when I'm always wondering how fast a pianist is going to try to play. Is this another place where aura matters more than accuracy? The counterpoint needs to be clear. So it's the point at which you can still characterize it, and that point is different for each pianist, as long as it builds and builds gradually to the right point. Intellectually speaking it's not necessarily correct, but I quite like the idea of treating the first five bars as a kind of fanfare. They don't carry enough to push forward out of the slow movement, so to me they inevitably sit somewhere in between if you are going to take it at that tempo. I like the change of pace there. The magic, and the music, of the slow movement return on the very last page. It's this final transition from darkness to light: the rumbling in the left hand, then the way that it ascends to the top of the piano. Those diminished chords are little shards of light, then it comes away to the very low notes, then these transcendent last chords. That's what the last page is about: transcendence. You can't help but think that the last note is an awakening from a dream. Close listening brought out the enormous range of possibilities in a work that presents an intellectual challenge of interpretation as much as a punishing test of technique. The piece is a Faustian struggle between the diabolical and the divine; the question is how to make it cohere over more than 30 minutes. Image“You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively,” Grosvenor said, “and that fuels your imagination.” "You react to some things positively and you react to some things negatively," Grosvenor said, "and that fuels your imagination."Credit...Kalpesh Lathigra for The New York Times There is no single answer. The example of Radu Lupu points in one direction. "It has this great inevitability about it," Grosvenor said of Lupu's interpretation. "In terms of the way he controls the pulse it's quite symphonic, and also in the kinds of sounds he produces." Shura Cherkassky, a figure beloved of pianophiles whose impulsive, visionary performances were so idiosyncratic that Grosvenor said he would never dare imitate them, offers something else in a live recording from 1965. "Sometimes it feels kind of improvisatory and sometimes he doesn't quite do what's written in the score," Grosvenor said. "But he somehow makes this miracle of his own unique narrative from it." Perils lurk whichever way a pianist turns. "The danger in pursuing this symphonic, quite rigid, controlled outlook is that it could quite easily become something more of an academic exercise than the fantastical piece that it is," Grosvenor said. "And obviously if you go along the Cherkassky route, you could make it sound like something that doesn't make much sense." If Grosvenor successfully traces a course between those extremes, he also takes inspiration from how his forebears have resolved the many difficulties in a work of this scale. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Listen to our critics' favorites from a year in which much of the energy in music came from recordings. By Anthony Tommasini, Zachary Woolfe, Joshua Barone, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, David Allen and Seth Colter Walls There's pianism of historic caliber on this release, and another mark of Mr. Grosvenor's breathtaking maturity, even though he is still in his 20s. Summoning playing of pure poetry, he lavishes on these concertos all his lauded sensitivity, innate sense of pace and effortless way with phrasing. He's matched bar for bar by Ms. Chan, an impressive young conductor who makes an occasion of orchestral writing that in other hands sounds routine. DAVID ALLEN Chopin: Piano Concertos; Benjamin Grosvenor, piano; Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Elim Chan, conductor (Decca)

Since bursting on the scene as a child prodigy, Benjamin Grosvenor has established himself as the most exciting and accomplished British pianist of his generation. Remarkably mature for his 27 years, he has five albums under his belt since being the youngest pianist to sign with Decca in 2011. His latest release, the two Chopin concertos, marks his first orchestral outing since his 2012 Rhapsody In Blue album which featured Saint-Saens' second and Ravel's G major concertos as well as George Gershwin's showstopper. Opinion has always been divided over Chopin's ability as an orchestrator. There are some who think his scores for the two piano concertos, both written when he was 20 and still living in Poland, are boring and unadventurous. Others believe he got the job done, albeit unspectacularly, and that the instrumentalists complement the soloist. Whichever camp the listener falls into, there is no doubting that the piano writing is wonderful and memorable, and under the fingers of Grosvenor backed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra the two concertos are glittering and achingly lovely, fully-formed masterpieces. His technique shows great clarity and technical ease. His touch is light and there is an innate artistry, taste and thoughtfulness in his playing. Still only 27, there is no telling what new heights he may scale. This is certainly a beautiful and impressive survey of Chopin's two masterworks. READ THE FULL LIMELIGHT REVIEW

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor presents a new recording of two concerto favorites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 2, released on Decca Classics. Recorded with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), the record marks Benjamin's fifth album on Decca Classics, following the hugely successful Homages in 2016, and is his first orchestral album since 2012. These works have been an active part of Grosvenor's repertoire since his early teens: "Chopin was the first composer to whom I felt a strong connection as a child. I have always been drawn to his music, and his piano concertos are among some of the finest in the repertoire." Of the new recording, which came to fruition following a successful performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 with Elim Chan and the RSNO in 2018, Benjamin notes: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Elim and the outstanding musicians of the RSNO." Benjamin appears this spring in the US performing the Piano Concerto No.1. 89.7WCPE: Wake Forest NC, Rob Kennedy spoke with BG about the new album. LISTEN to the attached file.

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor grew up with Chopin. He shares with John Pitman that "my first love at the piano…was Chopin."  In his newest recording for Decca, Mr. Grosvenor explores Chopin's piano concertos, one of which includes a sort of musical love note by the young composer to a singer that he admired. In the accompanying interview, hear some of Grosvenor's performance, as well as his opinions on which is the more "mature" concerto. READ & LISTEN TO THE All Classical Portland REVIEW

"Put all your soul into it, play the way you feel!" Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has taken these words by Chopin completely to heart in these distinctive, compelling performances of both Chopin piano concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and its principal guest conductor Elim Chan. The E minor Concerto opens in a wash of summery radiance, the strings superheated and heartfelt, from which the woodwind solos emerge soulfully, followed by a first triumphant flourish from Grosvenor, releasing floods of effortless poetic diversion. Beyond that the enchanting timelessness of the Romance, the closing Rondo's virile playfulness, and the dazzling virtuosity of the F minor Concerto unfold with breathtaking rapture. Chan's subtle and inspired colouring of Chopin's infamously unchallenging orchestral scores rather challenges that assumption. She and Grosvenor play entirely to the music's natural strengths.      Ken Walton SEE ALL REVIEWS BY The Scotsman    

A career does not always go to plan for a young pianist who has been hailed as a prodigy. Benjamin Grosvenor came to notice at 11, when he won the piano section of BBC Young Musician of the Year. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall, New York, aged 13, and was the youngest-ever soloist to appear at the opening night of the BBC Proms in 2011. Now in his late 20s, Grosvenor is out on the international concert circuit, and the good news is that his youthful flair has not dimmed. He has cited magicians of the keyboard like Vladimir Horowitz, Alfred Cortot and Shura Cherkassky as pianists that he likes to listen to, and he dispenses a touch of their wizardry himself. Each of those titans brought particular spontaneity to the music of Chopin, and Grosvenor follows in their footsteps. These recordings of the two piano concertos, made in Glasgow with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under conductor Elim Chan, are lit up by the flashes of enchantment that we have come to expect from him.     PHOTO: © Redferns READ THE FULL Financial Times REVIEW

James Jolly's latest playlist includes a quartet of concertos – Chopin from Benjamin Grosvenor, Mozart from Charles Richard-Hamelin, Tjeknavorian Snr from Tjeknavorian Jnr, and Adès from Kirill Gerstein plus Lili Boulanger songs with Cyrille Dubois, and Walton sung by Carolyn Sampson – plus pre-release tracks by Matthias Goerne and Jan Lisiecki, Seong-Jin Cho, and the Czech Philharmonic Our current Recording of the Month is Benjamin Grosvenor's outstanding album of the two Chopin piano concertos with Elim Chan conducting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. As Harriet Smith wrote ‘On every hearing new details seem to emerge – the most delicate trilling here, a wonderful snippet of clarinet theme there – but always with a sense of storytelling, Chopin's ever-shifting moods lustrously caught.' It's a wonderful recording and offers up new perceptions on every listening. SEE THE GRAMOPHOINE PAGE

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor presents a new recording of two concerto favorites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 2, released on Decca Classics. Recorded with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), the record marks Benjamin's fifth album on Decca Classics, following the hugely successful Homages in 2016, and is his first orchestral album since 2012. These works have been an active part of Grosvenor's repertoire since his early teens: "Chopin was the first composer to whom I felt a strong connection as a child. I have always been drawn to his music, and his piano concertos are among some of the finest in the repertoire." Of the new recording, which came to fruition following a successful performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 with Elim Chan and the RSNO in 2018, Benjamin notes: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Elim and the outstanding musicians of the RSNO." Benjamin appears this spring in the US performing the Piano Concerto No.1. Listen to Spokane Public Radio's Jim Tevenan in conversation with Mr. Grosvenor around the new album seasoned with brief exerpts from the disc.

The two Piano Concertos by Frederic Chopin recorded here have been an integral part of British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor's repertoire ever since his early teens. And this level of familiarity definitely manifests itself in his playing. There's a constant fluid limpidity and clarity to his phrasing, and an overall forward momentum shaped by delicate contours. Nothing ever sounds forced or affected, but rather seemingly moves along naturally. The slow passages are contemplative whilst the fast passages quite simply dance off the keyboard. And when a certain degree of darkness creeps into the music, his playing takes on an appropriately different mien, and the same can be said when the music takes on a highly Polonaise style. READ THE FULL Classical Music Sentinel REVIEW

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor presents a new recording of two favorites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with conductor Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. These works have been an active part of Grosvenor's repertoire since his early teens: "Chopin was the first composer to whom I felt a strong connection as a child. I have always been drawn to his music, and his piano concertos are among some of the finest in the repertoire." The new recording came to fruition following a successful performance of the Concerto No. 2 with Elim Chan and the RSNO in 2018. For 2/26/2020, Benjamin Grosvenor - Chopin Piano Concertos w/RSNO is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor presents a new recording of two concerto favorites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 2, released on Decca Classics. Recorded with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), the record marks Benjamin's fifth album on Decca Classics, following the hugely successful Homages in 2016, and is his first orchestral album since 2012. These works have been an active part of Grosvenor's repertoire since his early teens: "Chopin was the first composer to whom I felt a strong connection as a child. I have always been drawn to his music, and his piano concertos are among some of the finest in the repertoire." Of the new recording, which came to fruition following a successful performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 with Elim Chan and the RSNO in 2018, Benjamin notes: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Elim and the outstanding musicians of the RSNO." Benjamin appears this spring in the US performing the Piano Concerto No.1. In conjunction with this new release, BG has made some time available TODAY!, February 29 to speak with classical radio in the US. Watch for our tweets throughout the day

27-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor is considered to be one of the greatest pianists of his generation, or any other generation, for that matter. Ever since emerging in his teens as a prodigy mature beyond his years, Grosvenor continues to evolve artistically, as he builds a legacy of recordings that often achieve reference status, such as his Chopin Scherzos and Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, and a new release encompassing both Chopin Concertos. This week, Grosvenor will be the featured guest on Episode 243 of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, hosted by The Classical Network's Artist-in-Residence, composer/pianist Jed Distler. "Benjamin was an absolute delight to interview," says Distler. "He's warm, affable, unassuming, yet completely comfortable with his high place in the pianistic firmament, and passionate about a wide range of music. Long after our official conversation ended, we kept on talking shop and sharing repertoire ideas. No wonder all of my pianist friends adore Benjamin, personally and artistically." Grosvenor's new recording of two concerto favorites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 2, released on Decca Classics, was recorded with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO). The album marks Benjamin's fifth on Decca Classics, following the hugely successful Homages in 2016, and is his first orchestral album since 2012. Tune in to Between the Keys this Tuesday February 18th at 10:00 PM with special guest Benjamin Grosvenor, including musical selections by Ravel, Mendelssohn, Bach, Chopin and Brett Dean, only here on The Classical Network and WWFM.org New Jersey.

The British pianist presents two concerto favourites: Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos.1 and 2, accompanied by Elim Chan and The Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The record marks Benjamin's fifth album on Decca Classics, following the hugely successful Homages in 2016, and is his first orchestral album since 2012. These works have been an active part of Grosvenor's repertoire since his early teens. He explains: "Chopin was the first composer to whom I felt a strong connection with as a child. I have always been drawn to his music, and his piano concertos are among some of the finest in the repertoire." Of the new recording, which came to fruition following a successful performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 with Elim Chan and the RSNO in 2018, Benjamin notes: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with Elim and the outstanding musicians of the RSNO." In spring 2020 Benjamin will appear in the USA, Europe and the UK performing the Piano Concerto No.1. The recording will be released on 21 February 2020. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Pianist ARTICLE

The Hallé Orchestra bring the current classical music season in Sheffield City Hall to a close with a programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Mahler, featuring a world-class young musician. The spirited and charismatic Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras joins the orchestra on June 7 and the soloist is Benjamin Grosvenor. Acknowledged as one of the finest young pianists in the world, Benjamin makes a welcome return to Sheffield to perform Beethoven's youthful Piano Concerto No2. The concert is at 3pm.  Photo: Sussie Ahlburg p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Sheffield Telegraph ARTICLE

The Romantic era of piano-playing has long held fascination for pianists, piano critics and piano mavens. There are several reasons for this. One is the fact that the core recital repertoire remains largely orientated in the 19th century. Another concerns great pianists rooted in that same era who learnt the Romantic traditions at close proximity to the proverbial horse's mouth, and, more significantly, lived to make recordings. You can read about them in great detail in Harold C Schonberg's landmark book The Great Pianists (1963). By and large they represent what many consider to be pianism's Golden Age, sharing a common aesthetic governed by tonal beauty, textural diversity, textual freedom and a preoccupation with a singing line. However, the golden age is not necessarily a thing of the past, especially when one considers some of today's most successful young pianists. Daniil Trifonov's 2013 Carnegie Hall debut (recorded by Deutsche Grammophon) is a case in point. The then 21-year-old pianist's level of imagination and pianistic resource truly transcended the instrument that night. One expected his impeccable hair-trigger octaves in the Liszt Sonata, but not such fanciful manipulation of dynamics for dramatic impetus (the sudden, heart-stopping diminuendos, the emphatic accents). Furthermore, Trifonov's varied pedal effects throughout Chopin's Op 28 Preludes brought new-found urgency to the composer's daring harmonies and intricate cross-rhythmic writing. By contrast, when Trifonov offered Medtner's Fairy Tale Op 26 No 2 for an encore, his staggeringly supple passagework and repeated notes took wing via fingers alone, with little help from the pedal. Yuja Wang, who turns 32 in February, shares some of Trifonov's repertoire predilections, but her approach tends to be more free-spirited – as witness the equally subjective yet dissimilar Kreisleriana she played at Carnegie Hall a few months before Trifonov. She restlessly explored inner voices, brought bass lines to the fore and shifted the pulse when it suited her. Yet she displayed consistent polyphonic focus throughout the fugue of Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata, building its gnarly momentum without losing energy. Perhaps it was misguided for Wang to follow up with those flashy encores, but that's what her audience wanted and she played them with insouciant joy. One encounters a parallel ‘old-school' sensibility in the 26-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor, who was quoted in the New York Times thus: ‘I never want to hear people praise a performance as just about the music, because it's not. The player is there too, and part of it.' His recording of Bach's D major Partita harkens back to another era in regard to his avoidance of repeats and the way in which he allows sheer tonal beauty and a wide palette of nuances to take precedence over the kind of linear specificity one hears from seasoned Bach stylists such as Murray Perahia, András Schiff and Angela Hewitt. READ Jed Distler's FULL GRAMOPHONE ARTICLE

Welcome to Milton Court's evening with the Doric String Quartet and pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, with a spot of Chopin. The evening began pleasantly enough with the Doric Quartet in the Schubert Quartettsatz. This fast-rising young ensemble looks as if it has stepped straight out of an Ian McEwan novel. Earnest, stylish and intense, they offset one another in the ensemble with an engaging flexibility and minute attention to detail, painting the music with vivid contrasting colours that – though ever so slightly verging towards mannerism – remains thoroughly memorable. The pianist Benjamin Grosvenor joined the ensemble for the rest of the concert, first with a rare performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1 in a chamber version (arranged by whom we are not told, but available sheet music is by Kevin Kenner and Krzysztof Dombek), the quartet augmented by double bassist Laurène Durantel. Soon Grosvenor's playing, which has deepened, darkened and matured with the years, seemed to hold the strings in a generous embrace that lifted the entire ensemble towards a whole new kind of stratosphere. This was, to put it mildly, a night to remember. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Arts Desk REVIEW

The end of this month marks the fourth appearance of 25-year-old Benjamin Grosvenor in Seattle in six years. He will be performing Chopin's 1829 Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Hailed by Gramophone magazine as possibly "the most remarkable young pianist of our time" - Grosvenor's program also includes a pair of audience favorites composed by Camille Saint-Saëns: the spooky "Danse Macabre" (inspired by tales of Death raising the dead to dance) and triumphant Symphony No. 3 ("Organ"), with its thrilling, final movement. "The Chopin is a great piece, written when he was still a student but not written in the same way concertos typically are," says Grosvenor from his home in London, referring in part to the extra hands that helped shape the orchestration. "Some people complain it's poorly orchestrated, but Chopin had such a gift for melody, and this concerto really has some of his most beautiful music, particularly the second movement." READ THE FULL Seattle Times ARTICLE

The Southbank Centre's newly refurbished Queen Elizabeth Hall has been open almost two months, its spruced-up interior resonating throughout this season with echoes of its musical past. This concert was one of the most daring backward glances yet. The young British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor gathered an ensemble of friends for a programme including Schubert's Trout Quintet: a nod towards a celebrated performance given at the QEH in 1969 by Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline Du Pré and co. Given the subsequent reputations of those involved in 1969 – Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Zubin Mehta completed the group – this was a bold gesture. But the ambition on show was predominantly musical, the expressive style worlds apart from the messy, mesmerising exuberance of Barenboim et al. Photograph: Sophia Evans p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Guardian REVIEW

When Maurice Ravel wrote Gaspard de la Nuit, he was trying to make it the most difficult piano music ever written... perhaps even unplayable. Benjamin Grosvenor plays the unplayable, in concert on Performance Today for Thursday March 15. Hosted by Fred Child, and SYNDICATED on Americam Public Media. Here's a rundown of the complete show.  Hour Two Jennifer Higdon : String Poetic: Nocturne Jennifer Koh, violin; Reiko Uchida, piano String Poetic Cedille 103   Paul Schoenfield : Cafe Music Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Ani Aznavoorian, cello; Max Levinson, piano Seattle Chamber Music Society, Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA   Maurice Ravel : Gaspard de la nuit Benjamin Grosvenor, piano Union College Concert Series, Union College - Memorial Chapel, Schenectady, NY   Jennifer Higdon : Our Beautiful Country, from Cold Mountain Chanticleer; William Fred Scott, conductor Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA   Hour 2 Philip Glass : String Quartet No. 3, I. 1957: Award Montage Modern Mandolin Quartet Americana Sono Luminus DSL-92157   Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre : Sonate pour le Violon et pour le Clavecin, No. 3 in F Sonnambula; Elizabeth Weinfield, Artistic Director Baruch Performing Arts Center, Engelman Recital Hall, New York, NY   Jacob Clemens non Papa : Ego flos campi In Mulieribus; Anna Song, conductor In Mulieribus, Proto-Cathedral of St James the Greater, Vancouver, WA   Philip Glass : Violin Concerto No. 2 Mikhail Simonyan, violin; Baltic Sea Philharmonic; Kristjan Jarvi, conductor Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany

In Benjmain Grosvenor's new recording - Homages, The British pianist explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin (available only on the digital release).  KING FM's Dave Beck asked the rising young soloist about what makes this music special, and about his own personal influences.
LISTEN p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

In his new Decca Classics recording - Homages, British pianist Benjmain Grosvenor explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these works, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin. WGTE: Toledo OH - Brad Cresswell sat down with BG to discuss the new disc. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

At twenty-four years old, British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has just released his third major label recording for the Decca label, Homages. In this new recording, Grosvenor explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin  LISTEN TO Chris Johnson's interview on KMFA 89.5 Austin p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor latest release, Homage, features musical tributes. Among these are Felix Mendelssohn and Cesar Franck looking back to Bach; Busoni transcribing Bach's monumental Chaconne; Frederic Chopin reviving the traditional Barcarolle of Venetian gondoliers; and Franz Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. Finally in the digital release only, Maurice Ravel looks to the baroque for his Tombeau de Couperin. p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} WBAA: Purdue Classical's John Clare spoke to Grosvenor about Homage.

New Classical Tracks is a Syndicated Feature airing Nationally on Classical 24 & Statewide on Minnesota Public Radio. Listen to Julie Amacher's Feature with Benjamin Grosvenor  British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor first came into the spotlight at age 11, when he won the keyboard final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition. When I spoke with him recently, he had just become the first recipient of the Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize with the New York Philharmonic. "It's a really huge honor," Benjamin says. "I'm just really looking forward to the opportunities it'll give me. Of course, I'll be making my subscription debut with the New York Philharmonic, which will be wonderful. But I'll also be able to take part in some outreach projects with them, in and around the city. I'll be doing the first of those next year." This season, Benjamin is preparing for six concerts at Dubai Opera as part of the BBC Proms, and he recently released Homages, his fourth solo recording. "The idea for this CD was initially a sort of Baroque revisited CD - works by composers that look back to the Baroque," Benjamin explains. "And that theme is there on some of the disc, but I thought in order to reflect what I was doing in recital programs at the time, I'd like to expand that a bit. So I had the idea of tributes or homages, or all the composers are looking toward something else, whether it's a past composer - or, in some of the pieces, a particular place - and to have that theme going through the disc." p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

On Benjmain Grosvenor's new Decca recording - HOMAGES, the British pianist explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these works, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin. 90.1 - WABE: Atlanta City Lights features Benjamin Grosvenor. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

In this new recording, British pianist Benjmain Grosvenor explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these works, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin (available only on the digital release). WRCJ: Detroit - Chris Felcyn discussed the new album and career with BG. Listen to the attached segment

On Homages - Benjmain Grosvenor explores works by great composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these works, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form made so popular by Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni takes Bach's great solo violin Chaconne, presenting it in a bold transcription for piano; Chopin breathes new life in to the traditional ‘Barcarolle' of Venetian gondoliers, followed ten years later by Lizst's tribute to Italian folksong, Venezia e Napoli. From the 20th Century, Ravel looks to the traditional baroque suite for inspiration for his Tombeau de Couperin (available only on the digital release). This new 'Homages' album - released by Decca in September has become a favorite for classical radio and BG has now made time available to speak with programmers about his career and Homages. National and statewide networks will be participating as well as local stations in Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, Minneapolis, Spokane, Buffalo, Toledo and Lafayette IN.

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor explores works by composers paying tribute to their predecessors. Among these works, Mendelssohn looks back to the Prelude & Fugue form of Bach; and Franck does likewise (adding a Chorale as a central section). Busoni transforms Bach's great solo violin Chaconne; Chopin breathes new life into the Barcarolle, followed by Liszt's tribute to Italian folk song, Venezia e Napoli. The Liszt: Venezia e Napoli (17:51) from - Benjamin Grosvenor: Homages on Decca is TODAY's WFMT: Chicago - Featured New Release. Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Each month, WCLV - Cleveland Program Director Bill O'Connell selects a series of special CDs to be featured on the air throughout the month. For his October list, Bill has selected . Here are the highlighted tracks and airdates Bill has chosen and a few of his comments from about why this disc is a standout. For his second solo album on Decca, the young English pianist - Benjamin Grosvenor has assembled an imaginative and appealing program of music inspired by dance from Bach to Boogie-Woogie, via Chopin, Granados, Albeniz, Scriabin and the Blue Danube. This CD was inspired by a letter from the great pianist-composer Ferruccio Busoni to his pupil Egon Petri proposing a "dance program" as a theme for Petri's recitals, a concept Grosvenor expanded on for his Queen Elizabeth Hall debut recital in 2012. The Financial Times said of the concert, "Grosvenor is above all a technical wizard, a Harry Potter-like conjuror of the keyboard who can summon breath-taking cascades of notes. And yet, unlike other technically brilliant pianists, he does not seem to want to show off. He never bangs, never plays to the gallery, and certainly would not think of breaking into a sweat." A former Gramophone Young Artist of the Year, Grosvenor was awarded the honor of opening the BBC Proms Concerts season in 2011 and the youngest-ever soloist to perform on the ‘First Night.'  Dances - Benjamin Grosvenor, piano (Decca 4785334) - Featured Thu 10/2, Mon 10/13, Wed 10/22, Fri 10/31

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE JULIE AMACHER'S INTERVIEW w/ Benjamin Grosvenor Transcript - When you were 22 years old, did you know what you were doing the next week, much less the next year? When you're one of the most sought-after young pianists, you do. Benjamin Grosvenor is a rising young British pianist who says having his calendar blocked out through 2016 is a bit surreal. "You're planning your life two years in advance all the time," he says. "But you get used to it. There are a lot of decisions to be made on a daily basis, some of which can be tricky." Three years ago, Benjamin became the youngest British musician ever to sign on with Decca Classics. He recently released his second solo recording titledDances. It was inspired by a letter written in 1909 by the Italian composer-pianist Ferruccio Busoni, who proposed a dance program made up of original works and transcriptions. "So I wanted to construct a program with roughly the same model," Benjamin explains. "And what appealed to me about the dance theme was that it allowed for such a scope when it came to repertoire. There's music stretching back to Bach and before that fits the bill." On Dances, Benjamin creates a program that's quite varied in terms of repertoire, some of which is familiar, and some of which is a little more obscure. The first half of the program features two larger scale works, Bach's Partita No. 4 in D Major and two Chopin Polonaises. "Then we move to early mazurkas by Scriabin and then to his Waltz from his middle period which is ecstatic and hedonistic," Benjamin says. "Sort of a waltz in the skies. "Scriabin is a fascinating composer because of the way his style developed," he continues. "He was about 17 when he wrote those. Not all the early works are interesting but these mazurkas are quite beautiful. They were inspired by Chopin, most definitely, as a lot of his music was at that time, with this individual quality to it, this Russian twist, I suppose. Complicated, sometimes strange harmonies that he works in here and there and the counterpoint is very individual." A set of eight waltzes by the Spanish composer, pianist Enrique Granados, are also somewhat atypical for Benjamin. "Granados is a composer we associate with very Spanish music," he says. "It inhabits a certain idiom and this piece not so much. Still there are Spanish elements in the prelude, you hear strumming of guitars and we have waltzes which sound Parisian but it's all very melodic, vocal music and very charming."
 You'll also be charmed - and amazed - by the piano transcription of Johann Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz by Polish-born composer Adolf Schulz-Evler. "It's a very difficult piece," Benjamin admits. "The writing's so difficult but it requires such lightness of touch. The first three pages alone are quite something - 800 notes in the first three pages. Quite a finger-bender in places. It's taxing, yet a really imaginative transcription - the way he treats the themes, it's really ingenious. And I guess it's not all that often played these days." After this finger-busting waltz you'll find yourself wanting more, and Benjamin Grosvenor delivers offering two fun encore pieces from the 20th century - a Tango by Isaac Albeniz and a Boogie-Woogie Etude by Morton Gould. Take a spin through Benjamin Grosvenor's new recording, Dances, and you'll quickly hear why he's one of the most sought-after young pianists of his day.

Music is an art that is always re-creatiing. The act of interpreting music written by another or interpreted by the composer. The theme at the heart of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor's Dances, his newest release for Decca, is one that's been explored countless times in concert programs and recordings over the decades and even centuries. Combining interpretations of Bach and Chopin, Morton Gould, Adolf Schulz-Evler, and others, Grosvenor's approach re-creates the music in an entirely new way. Click on "Listen" at top of this page to hear Benjamin Grosvenor conversation with WCRB - Boston: Cathy Fuller