DANCES
BENJAMIN
GROSVENOR, Piano
Decca
478 5334 / *****
British wunderkind pianist Benjamin
Grosvenor has been well-advised on his recording output, which averages one
disc a year. Every concept album has been a winner and his third CD, a
Gramophone Award recipient, is centred on dance-forms through the ages. Not all
of the works can be danced to, but all are celebrations of the dance genre,
including Bach's Partita No.4 in D
major. Barring its first movement which is a French overture, the ensuing six
movements include the allemande, courante, air, sarabande, minuet and gig, all
antique dances which Grosvenor enlivens in his crisply articulated and graceful
way.
From Chopin's native homeland comes his Andante Spianato and Grand Polonaise (Op.22) and F sharp
minor Polonaise (Op.44), the latter
which can sound interminable but not in Grosvenor's hands. He also contributes
three Scriabin Mazurkas (with debt of
influence to Chopin), Scriabin's ecstatically charged Waltz (which transcends the Chopinesque variety) and Spaniard
Enrique Granados' eight charming Valsas
Poeticos (Poetic Waltzes).
Pride of place goes to the Schulz-Evler
fantastically filigreed transcription of Johann Strauss' Blue Danube Waltz, a world apart from the simplicity of Godowsky's
take on Albeniz's Tango. To close,
American Morton Gould's Boogie Woogie Étude,
a favourite of the late great Shura Cherkassky, brings the house down. Play it
again, Ben!
DON'T MISS:
BENJAMIN
GROSVENOR PLAYS LISZT
with the
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
conducted by OKKO KAMU
10
& 11 April 2015,
Victoria Concert Hall at 7.30 pm
Tickets
available at SISTIC
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