Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 Benjamin Grosvenor

• Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849): Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 "Funeral March":
• 1 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 "Funeral March": I. Grave – Doppio movimento 07:51
• 2 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 "Funeral March": II. Scherzo – Più lento 07:00
• 3 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 "Funeral March": III. Marche funèbre. Lento 09:11
• 4 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35 "Funeral March": IV. Finale. Presto 01:29
• Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57:
• 5 Chopin: Berceuse in D-Flat Major, Op. 57 04:28
• Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23:
• 6 Chopin: Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23 09:14
• Nocturne No. 15 in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1:
• 7 Chopin: Nocturne No. 15 in F Minor, Op. 55 No. 1 04:43
• Nocturne No. 16 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 No. 2:
• 8 Chopin: Nocturne No. 16 in E-Flat Major, Op. 55 No. 2 05:01
• Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58:
• 9 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58: I. Allegro maestoso 09:51
• 10 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58: II. Scherzo. Molto vivace 02:47
• 11 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58: III. Largo 09:05
• 12 Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58: IV. Finale. Presto non tanto 05:00
• Total Runtime 01:15:40

Info for Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3

Decca Classics is thrilled to announce Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3, the new album by internationally renowned British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, due for release on 23rd May 2025. This will be Grosvenor’s ninth recording with Decca since his historic signing in 2011, when he became the youngest British musician—and the first British pianist in over sixty years—to join the label. Since then, Grosvenor has been recognised by Gramophone as one of the 50 greatest pianists ever recorded.

This album celebrates Chopin’s genius with two of his most profound and contrasting works: the Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor and the Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor. Composed five years apart, these masterpieces showcase the range of Chopin’s emotional and musical brilliance.

Grosvenor comments, “The brooding Second Sonata is widely known for its Funeral March, but it also shows Chopin as a trailblazer, with the Finale: Presto hinting at modernism. It stands out in Chopin’s work as something truly unique.” By contrast, the Third Sonata, written at the height of Chopin’s career in 1844, blends dazzling piano technique with beautiful, flowing melodies, showing the composer at his most refined and expressive.

To complement the sonatas, Grosvenor selected a number of shorter works. He explains, “To balance the sonatas, I included his Ballade No. 1, which helped establish Chopin’s reputation in Paris in 1835.” This celebrated piece, known as one of Chopin’s greatest works, is full of drama and storytelling. Dedicated to Baron Nathaniel von Stockhausen in 1836, Robert Schumann called it “the piece that shows the most genius,” a view shared by Chopin, who described it as his favorite composition. The Ballade is prefaced by the tender Berceuse. Grosvenor shares, “Among the weightier works on this album, I included the Berceuse to offer a moment of calm. It’s a beautiful piece written in the same year as the Third Sonata, with work on it beginning during a romantic summer at Nohant. In just a few years, Chopin had established himself as one of the greatest composers for the piano.” Finally, before the third sonata, we hear two of Chopin’s most mature and richly spun Nocturnes: the expressive No. 1 in F Minor and the lyrical No. 2 in E-flat Major, both written shortly before the Third Sonata. This latest release follows Grosvenor’s much-lauded 2020 recording of the Chopin piano concerti with Elim Chan and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which received the Gramophone Concerto Award and a Diapason d’Or de l’Année. Diapason described it as “a version to rank among the best, and confirmation of an extraordinary artist.”

Grosvenor continues to garner widespread acclaim. Recent highlights include performances at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, at Chicago Symphony Center, and the BBC Proms. 2025 brings further exciting performances, including debuts with the Bamberg Symphony and NHK Symphony Orchestras, and performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karina Canellakis. Grosvenor will also return to the Montreal, Seattle, Bern, Dallas, and BBC Orchestras, as well as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Leeds International Piano Festival, and Berliner Klavierfestival as part of a European recital tour. In February 2025, he will be a featured artist at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, performing both concerto and solo recital programmes.

This album promises to be a landmark addition to Grosvenor’s celebrated discography and a compelling tribute to the enduring legacy of Chopin.

Benjamin Grosvenor, piano

Benjamin Grosvenor - Piano
Nineteen year old British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is internationally recognized for his electrifying performances and penetrating interpretations. An exquisite technique and ingenious flair for tonal colour are the hallmarks which make Benjamin Grosvenor one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world. His virtuosic command over the most strenuous technical complexities never compromises the formidable depth and intelligence of his interpretations. Described by some as a ‘Golden Age’ pianist (American Record Guide) and one ‘almost from another age’ (The Times), Benjamin is renowned for his distinctive sound, described as ‘poetic and gently ironic, brilliant yet clear-minded, intelligent but not without humour, all translated through a beautifully clear and singing touch’ (The Independent).

Benjamin first came to prominence as the outstanding winner of the Keyboard Final of the 2004 BBC Young Musician Competition at the age of eleven. Since then, Benjamin has become an internationally regarded pianist performing concerti with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, and Brazilian Symphony in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican, Muza Kawasaki and Carnegie Hall (at the age of thirteen). In 2011, having just turned nineteen, Benjamin performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the First Night of the BBC Proms to a sold-out Royal Albert Hall. His performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 dazzled critics, with The Times commenting on ‘the clarity and poetry of his panache, the airy grace of his arpeggios, the lack of flash buckles and bows'. Benjamin works with numerous esteemed conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jiří Bělohlávek and Vladimir Jurowski.

An accomplished recitalist, Benjamin performs to acclaim across the world. A regular at the Wigmore Hall in London, he has also made recital debuts at venues including the Victoria Hall in Singapore and the Philia Hall in Tokyo. In the USA, Benjamin has appeared at the Gilmore Festival and is a favourite in Saint Paul at the Chopin Society in Minnesota. Benjamin has recently given a highly successful fifteen-concert tour across Germany, for which he was labelled a ‘piano visionary’ by the Süddeutschen Zeitung. Benjamin continues to work chamber music collaborations into his busy schedule and enjoys working with other members of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, of which he is a member during 2010-2012. Highlights of this season include engagements with the RAI Torino and Semyon Bychkov, Singapore Symphony and Okko Kamu, an extensive tour to North America including appearances in Washington and New York, and recital debuts in Berlin and Prague. In 2011/12 Benjamin is Associate Artist with Orchestra of the Swan.

In 2011 Benjamin signed to Decca Classics, and in doing so has become the youngest British musician ever to sign to the label, and the first British pianist to sign to the label in almost 60 years. His first recording for Decca includes Chopin’s Four Scherzi and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit. Critics have marvelled at Benjamin’s musical character as displayed in this recording; ‘Grosvenor, you can tell, is a Romantic pianist, almost from another age. He doesn't deconstruct, or stand at a distance. He jumps inside the music's soul’ (The Times) and ‘Grosvenor's balance of oratory and ornament, gesture and poetry – evident, too, in Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit – are moving as well as impressive’ (The Observer). Benjamin’s previous recordings include Chopin rarities for the 200th anniversary edition of Chopin’s complete works (EMI, 2010) in which he was lauded for his ‘sensitivity of touch, general musicality and affection for the music’ (BBC Music Magazine) and a debut solo recording ‘This and That’ (Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound/EMI, 2008), in response to which Bryce Morrison remarked that ‘even the most outlandish difficulties are tossed aside not just as child’s play but with a seemingly endless poetic finesse and resource’ (Gramophone). During his brief but sensational career to date, Benjamin has been featured in two BBC television documentaries, and his performances have been broadcast widely across the world.

The youngest of five brothers, Benjamin Grosvenor began playing the piano aged 6. He currently studies with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music on an affiliated scholarship and has also studied with Leif Ove Andsnes, Stephen Hough, and Arnaldo Cohen amongst others.

This album contains no booklet.