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Benjamin Grosvenor’s “Dances”

Jed Distler

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

Music influenced by dance forms is the theme of Benjamin Grosvenor’s second Decca solo release. The opener is a decidedly “old school” treatment of Bach’s Fourth Partita with no repeats observed, where beauty of tone and a wide palette of nuances take precedence over the kind of linear specificity we get from comparable colorists like Murray Perahia, Angela Hewitt, and Rosalyn Tureck. Two Chopin works follow.

In contrast to many modern-day pianists who linger over the Andante spianato and put you to sleep in the process, Grosvenor’s brisk yet flexible tempo helps create an attractively undulating left-hand accompaniment. It leads into a Grand Polonaise full of fanciful rubato and amazingly deft, sparsely pedaled right-hand passagework that reminds me of Josef Hofmann’s similar suppleness and glib tendencies.

The difference between Grosvenor’s attention-getting voicings, color shifts, and dynamic dips and those of Vladimir Horowitz in Chopin’s F-sharp minor Polonaise is that the older pianist’s sense of rhythm and dynamic deployment is more direct, purposeful, and dramatically effective. By contrast, the sensuous surface style of three Mazurkas and the A-flat Waltz Op. 18 by Scriabin better absorbs Grosvenor’s affetuoso temperament.

The pianist offers a lighter, faster, and more subjectively phrased take on Granados’ Eight Valses poéticos in comparison to the more straightforward scintillation of Alicia de Larrocha. The latter’s eloquent and exquisitely timed Albéniz/Godowsky Tango has a depth and expressive simplicity that Grosvenor’s superficial tempo fluctuations can’t begin to touch. Yet by focusing on the melodies and keeping the basic pulse steady in the main sections (transitions are another thing), Grosvenor tosses off the Schulz-Evler/Strauss Blue Danube transcription’s torrents of notes with an almost detached effortlessness and weightless sweep.

The concluding selection, Morton Gould’s Boogie-Woogie Etude, truly swings, abounding with perky accents and dynamic hairpins. Yet I prefer Shura Cherkassky’s various recordings, which are less jazzy in regard to inflection, but bring the propulsive left-hand boogie accompaniment more to the fore. One hopes that the 22-year-old Grosvenor’s musicianship will reach a consistent plateau on par with the uncanny refinement and sophistication of his pianism. Mark Ainley’s superbly written booklet notes discuss the music informatively and succinctly.

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Recording Details:

Album Title: Dances, Poems, Fairy Tales
Reference Recording: Bach Partita No. 4: Perahia (Sony), Chopin Polonaise Op. 44: Horowitz (Sony)

J.S. BACH: Partita No. 4 in D major BWV 282
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN: Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brilliante Op. 22; Polonaise in F-sharp minor Op. 44
ALEXANDER SCRIABIN: Mazurkas Op. 3 Nos. 6, 4 & 9; Waltz in A-flat major Op. 38
ENRIQUE GRANADOS: 8 Valses poéticos
ADOLF SCHULZ-EVLER: Arabesques on Johann Strauss, Jr’s “By the Beautiful Blue Danube”
ISAAC ALBÉNIZ: Tango Op. 165 No. 2 (arr. Leopold Godowsky)
MORTON GOULD: Boogie-Woogie Etude

    Soloists: Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)

  • Record Label: Decca - 478 5334
  • Medium: CD

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