Benjamin returned to the Proms last night for a stunning performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.4 with The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder. The concert marked the centennial of Camille Saint-Saëns, and therefore included his cadenzas in the concerto. The encore was Liszt’s Gnomenreigen.
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Neil Fisher writes in The Times: “With Benjamin Grosvenor the soloist, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 unfolded in softly hypnotic caresses; the Hallé sound plush and refined, Grosvenor’s pearly, even tone beguiling at almost perpetual pianissimo.”
In a review for Bachtrack, Alexander Hall comments: "Grosvenor demonstrated the qualities which have marked him out as a front-line artist: crystalline articulation, sparkle and brilliance in colouring, bravura control in rapid passagework. In the concerto he and Elder established a fine partnership, engaging in a real dialogue between individual voices."
Writing in The Guardian, Flora Wilson says: “Grosvenor’s ever-gracious virtuosity was muscular, capitalising fully on the sensitivity of touch of a modern grand piano.”
Colin Clarke writes on Seen and Heard: “This was pianistic control of the very first order … What with Grosvenor breathing fresh magic into his every gesture and line, plus the novelty of those cadenzas, this was like hearing the music anew.”
Photo © Chris Christodoulou / BBC Proms
Photo © Chris Christodoulou / BBC Proms
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