BENJAMIN GROSVENOR PIANO RECITAL @ THE UTZON ROOM

 

Brilliant pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is currently doing an Australian tour. Pic by Sophie Wright
Brilliant UK pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is currently doing an Australian tour. Pic by Sophie Wright

The penultimate event in the 2015 Utzon Music Series was a recital by pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. This performer showed how he has developed from an award-winning child prodigy to current touring phenomenon in his early twenties. This path continues to be strewn with tour de force technique and a magical level of musicianship.

One of the first qualities to be witnessed about Benjamin Grosvenor’s musical delivery was his impressive stillness, steadiness and stamina. The spirited performance was virtuosic without wasting or misdirecting a skerrick of keyboard energy.

In addition to such control, our fascination continued at Grosvenor’s wonderful use of his instrument’s resources to maintain an incredible clarity of line whilst painting with a huge range of tone colours. There is always an expert balance to the textures created.

The challenging recital programme of nineteenth century works was expertly constructed, containing many interesting historical crossovers and relationships. The opening pair of Preludes and Fugues from Op 35 by Mendelssohn looked backwards to Bach. Later in the programme, the inclusion of Ravel’s piano version of Le Tombeau de Couperin also paid tribute to Baroque forms in a new guise.

The remainder of the concert dealt with works from the pianist-composer canon, contrasting reactions by the composers to political or physical environments. Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brilliante Op 22 showed the composer reacting to the Polish-Russian War. Liszt’s keyboard effusion, Venezia e Napoli from his Second Year of Pilgrimage: Italy was the most programmatic work in the concert.

The concert began with an exciting opening display of the scope and possibilities of the keyboard prelude and fugue form as in Mendelssohn’s day. A pairing was taken from six works in the genre from his Opus 35.

The Prelude in E minor split the piano successfully between sonorous melody and elaborate decoration. Breathtaking fugal playing and exquisitely clean bravura also resulted from Grosvenor’s interpretation of the rapid-fire fugue in F minor.

Following the Mendelssohn works, we were treated to the Nationalistic verve of Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brilliante Op 22. The addition of the Andante preface to this work by Chopin has endured as an effective contrast for this concert polonaise.

The chance to hear this work rather than a single movement Nationalist form also enabled the audience to enjoy the ‘calm before the storm’ from a tense historical climate. The more intimate Andante was imbued with beautiful handling of line and colour before the infectious character of the Polonaise.

In Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, the retrospective elements reworked from Baroque dance suite movements truly glistened in Grosvenor’s interpretation. His clarity and supreme talent for balance were put to good use when bringing the delicacies of this well-known French masterpiece to life.

Liszt’s inimitable filigree washed effortlessly over the Utzon Room audience as Benjamin Grosvenor guided us through the programmatic Liszt work concluding the recital. We heard the narrative of Venezia e Napoli from the Années de Pèlerinage emerge earnestly from the atmospheres created. The Canzone movement was full of character. The Tarantella final movement was a suitable climax to the work and to a concert full of consistent climaxes.

Benjamin Grosvenor’s Australian Tour continues until November 14, with debut performances in Adelaide and Melbourne. His latest CD, Dances, is now available on Decca Classics.