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Benjamin Grosvenor plays Rhapsody in Blue
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 6th August 2012
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Gramophone Magazine, November 2012, Editor's Choice
reservations pale into Beckmesserish scratchings besides the delights of this disc and especially of Grosvenor's pianism. I can only concur with other critics who hear in his tone and phrasing...
Benjamin Grosvenor plays Rhapsody in Blue
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 6th August 2012
-
Gramophone Magazine, November 2012, Editor's Choice
reservations pale into Beckmesserish scratchings besides the delights of this disc and especially of Grosvenor's pianism. I can only concur with other critics who hear in his tone and phrasing...
About
Nineteen year old British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and penetrating interpretations.
Following his highly successful debut album on Decca Classics (the youngest British musician to sign to Decca, and the first British pianist to join the label in almost 60 years) Benjamin will record his second disc featuring some of the foremost romantic piano concertos accompanied by the lush textures of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
Contents and tracklist
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- James Judd
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- James Judd
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- James Judd
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
- Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
- Recorded: 2012-04-19
- Recording Venue: The Friary, Liverpool
Spotlight on this release
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Benjamin Grosvenor on Ravel -
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Benjamin Grosvenor on Gershwin -
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Benjamin Grosvenor on Being Compared to Old-School Pianists -
Rhapsody in Blue – Grosvenor and Kempf
6th Aug 2012
Two former BBC Young Musician of the Year prize-winners record Gershwin’s best-known work – Kempf as part of an all-Gershwin programme, Grosvenor alongside Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2.
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Recording of the Week6th August 2012
-
Gramophone MagazineNovember 2012Editor's Choice
October 2012
reservations pale into Beckmesserish scratchings besides the delights of this disc and especially of Grosvenor's pianism. I can only concur with other critics who hear in his tone and phrasing echoes of a golden age...For me, his playing of the Godowsky version of Saint-Saens's Swan is a high point...A champagne disc - fizz and finesse.
November 2012
he opens [the Saint-Saens] with a rhetorical grandeur before setting the keyboard ablaze with a burst of swaggering, supercharged virtuosity...He has technique to burn and his pungency and force are things to marvel at...Grosvenor's Ravel brims over with individual touches...while in Gershwin his virtuosity is once more exultant rather than brash...Grosvenor's is, at the least, a talent in a thousand.
6th August 2012
he has a sparkle and spontaneity to his playing
11th August 2012
Grosvenor and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic achieve a fine balance between [the Ravel's] urban bustle and more reflective passages...[Rhapsody in Blue is] less cluttered and more demotic in style, with more of a swing than in some stiffer, stuffier versions.
10th August 2012
in an age of ready-made virtuosos, his gifts are already distinctive — poetic, romantic, almost old-school in the way he makes phrases teeter on the edge of a pause or when one hand hesitates before the other in laying down a texture...Grosvenor’s rendition of the Rhapsody is definitely European, warmly sensuous rather than American pizzazz.
30th September 2012
His playing belies his youth; this is deliciously individual, mature pianism. The sound is warm, the style impulsive, affectionate. He’s not striving for technical perfection (though you won’t find any fluffs here), more content to draw the listener in and spin a good yarn...Immaculate, characterful orchestral playing from James Judd and the RLPO too
