HOMAGES
BENJAMIN GROSVENOR, Piano
Decca 483 0255 / *****
There
are two separate tributes in British wunderkind Benjamin Grosvenor's latest
solo disc. The first is a homage to Johann Sebastian Bach's legacy, which opens
with Busoni's famous transcription of the Chaconne in D minor (from
Bach's Violin Partita No.2). It is a glorious performance which builds
up arch-like through a series of climaxes while sensitive to many subtle
nuances.
This is followed by two of Mendelssohn's Prelude & Fugues
(Op.35), Romantic updates of the contrapuntal writing celebrated in Bach's Well-Tempered
Clavier, and Cesar Franck's well-known neo-Bachian Prelude, Chorale and
Fugue, which are no less impressively rendered.
The
second tribute features the musings of Romantic composers on the sunny climes
of Italy. Chopin's Barcarolle finds Grosvenor in cantabile heaven
in this Venetian gondolier's song. In Liszt's Venezia E Napoli (from Years
Of Pilgrimage), the song-like thread continues for Gondoliera and Canzone,
before erupting in free-wheeling coruscations for the vertiginous Tarantella.
Liszt employs several popular Venetian and Neapolitan songs which are turned
into a feast of pianism where Grosvenor obliges with obvious relish. Another
highly pleasurable listen beckons.
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