Benjamin Grosvenor

Prepare for a different kind of chamber music with a delightful 19th-century rediscovery: a scaled-down version of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto for piano quintet. ‘Grosvenor is constantly searching for new things in the music he plays’ wrote The Guardian of a previous Barbican recital by this young British pianist. In the first of two concerts, he combines virtuosity with teamwork, in a lovely chamber version of Chopin’s First Concerto. It’s a magical idea – and it’ll surely sound magical too, as Grosvenor pools his artistry with the Doric Quartet. ’Out of solo playing, concertos and chamber music, it’s the latter that perhaps appeals to me the most‘ says Grosvenor; and since he’s also partnering the Dorics in Fauré’s superb First Piano Quintet, this concert seems to combines the best of all his musical worlds.