What to expect from a Saturday night piano recital at the Concertgebouw given by the talented British pianist Ben Grosvenor? Would the audience be full of the usual piano aficionados who attend concerts given by the vast array of great pianists on offer here in Amsterdam. Or would this young Brit draw a slightly different crowd? The latter was most definitely the case. Unlike concerts given by some more established pianists, audience members tonight ranged from the very young, through to the rather more senior. More importantly, a significant number were not only in that critical ‘early twenties’ bracket, but many had travelled in from the provinces for the occasion, and were attending a concert for the very first time. After experiencing the drama of a classical music concert, I suspect they may be hooked for life, forming the core of audiences for years to come.
The programme
Opening with Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was a clever move. Heads bobbed along in time to the music, and smiles broke out as thoughts of hours spent as a child, learning one of the most famous sonatas in the repertoire, seemed to evoke memories in the hall. Over in a flash, Grosvenor hurtled headlong into a furious Presto, testing the Kleine Zaal’s acoustics to the full. After reducing the fury to a deathly hush, he finished in style.
Melancholic melodies teased as Schumann’s sumptuous romanticism took hold in his Fantasie in C. Silence and stillness are a huge part of Grosvenor’s lexicon. Holding the delicious last note for an eternity before heading into the more familiar territory of Schumann’s Langsam, his quiet calm paved the way for Schumann’s youthful, yet intensely personal love for Clara to flow. How glorious this love must have been? Those majestic melodies deep in the bass, garnering immense tenderness and frailty.
Shimmering moonlight
Scriabin’s Sonata no. 2 conjured a world full of shimmering moonlight gently swaying in the breeze. Dodging a passing storm, the moon’s reflection gently quivered and glistened before cascading waves petered away in the distance.
Thoughts of the shimmering sea continued in Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit as a water fairy emerged from that moonlight sea to seduce an innocent passer-by. The piano’s bell-like chimes rang true. Grosvenor’s length and breadth of phrase, coupled with his mesmerizing mysticism, surging from the deepest depths, compelled the newly-tuned piano into renewed life. Darkness descended in Le gibet as a wholly different set of bells tolled incessantly, alerting the massed crowds gathered near the waiting gallows. Intensity reigned as fire in the young Brit’s eyes signalled the entrance of Ravel’s bombastic, devilish dwarf swirling this way and that. Such was Grosvenor’s magic that a vagrant wine glass quite literally smashed to the ground in the bedlam. Ravel’s fiendish oeuvre though, continued apace coupled now with thoughts of a pagan sacrifice. How would the torment resolve?
Tonight ‘s performance was a real treat. Grosvenor is an exciting and captivating young storyteller. And his two encores, Moszkowski’s Etude Op 72 no. 11 and Ravel’s Jeux d’eau, left us wanting more.
This concert was reviewed in the Concertgebouw on Saturday 7th February 2026
Further reading
Click on the link to read an interview for Preludium. Gorsvenor talks about his Amsterdam debut in 2012 and how a little piece of the Concertgebouw’s history lives on in his living room to this day.
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