Benjamin Grosvenor, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Elim Chan - Chopin: Piano Concertos (2020) CD-Rip

This 2020 release is among comparatively few in which the orchestral tutti in the Chopin concertos hold their own and enter into a real dialogue with the soloist. It's quite a different approach from that of the single-named pianist Yundi, who conducts his orchestra himself and bends it to his rubato-heavy interpretation. Both are attractive recordings of these concertos, where the orchestral passages are still too often done in a perfunctory way. However, this one by pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is likely to appeal to those hoping for a stirring traditional approach with a good-sized symphony orchestra, not a chamber group. Conductor Elim Chan opens each concerto with substantial, even slightly martial tutti that gives Grosvenor room to introduce high contrasts. His entrances are big, and his second subjects poetic and varied in tempo. Grosvenor truly gets his romantic genius on in the slow movements, which have all kinds of delicate effects. The virtuoso finale of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, the fanciest movement of the set, works a bit better in his hands than that of the Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11, but in general, this is a performance the late 19th century would have appreciated and even treasured, and it is one of several phenomena creating a buzz around conductor Chan.