Benjamin Grosvenor: Bach, Chopin, Gubaidulina & Liszt by Bach, J. S., Gubaidulina, Liszt, Chopin, Da (2023/2023), Southbank Centre, Londra, Regno Unito

Since winning the piano category of the BBC Young Musicians competition when he was only 12, Benjamin Grosvenor has gone on to gain legions of fans the world over. The New York Times has commented: ‘Mr Grosvenor makes you sigh with joy’. Grosvenor’s programme brings together two masterpieces of musical romanticism: the sonatas in B minor respectively by Chopin and Liszt. While Chopin’s is intimate, whimsical and nocturnal, Liszt’s is an epic adventure in a single span demanding transcendental technique. First, a voyage through other contrasts: Grosvenor opens with the near-mystical reimagining of Bach’s Prelude in E minor by Alexander Siloti, a cousin of Rachmaninov, and follows it with the awe-inspiring Chaconne by the Ukrainian composer Sofia Gubaidulina.