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Hélène Grimaud is probably one of the most gifted pianist of her generation. And this fall, she is presenting a new album called BRAHMS CONCERTOS. Pure Romance. It is the perfect pretext to review the profile of this amazing pianist.

Héléne Grimaud is french, she was born in Aix-en-Provence. She discovered the piano at age of 7 and since then it was a big love story between her and the beautiful instrument. After traveling quite a lot, she established herself in Switzerland and today she shares her time between her two passions: the piano and wolves! In deed she has been a passionate fighter to protect wolves from extinction. She is at the Direction board of the Wolf Conservation center in the US.
Wolf-conservation-center

They organize several original activities to the public in order to create a reassuring proximity between wolves and humans. You can do “Yoga with wolves”, or “sleep with Wolves”… all activities to allow you observing and get close to wolves, one of the most fascinating animals in the forest. You can see more details on the official website: http://nywolf.org.

Helene-Grimaud-concerto

It is an interesting activity to know if you wish to understand Hélène Grimaud piano style. She definitely puts “wolf” on her play. Like the majestic animal, she is intuitive, alot of character and she follows her instincts. She is not afraid to follow an idea until the end. She has a very interesting style, her own, and she does no hesitate to re-interpretate certain notes while playing the classics. Passion is a must.

Helene-Grimaud-music-passion

This is what the Glenn Gould Foundation says about her: “She has this willingness to take a piece of music apart and free herself from the general body of practice that has grown up around it.”

Helene-Grimaud-style

She is passionate about the classics, she played them all: From Beethoven, to Mozart, towards Ravel, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Brahms or Chopin. She signed with the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon since 2003 and since then, she has worldwide exposure.

Helene-Grimaud-Brahms-Concertos

With this new album – Hélène Grimaud Brahms Concertos – the artist presents a double CD with the following tracks:

CD 1: Brahms: Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor, Op.15
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Piano Concerto No.1 In D Minor, Op.15
Hélène Grimaud, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Andris Nelsons

1. Maestoso – Poco più moderato 23:51
2. Adagio 14:23
3. Rondo (Allegro non troppo) 12:27

 

CD 2: Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat, Op.83
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat, Op.83
Hélène Grimaud, Wiener Philharmoniker, Andris Nelsons

1. Allegro non troppo 18:52
2. Allegro appassionato 9:25
3. Andante – Più adagio 12:44
4. Allegretto grazioso – Un poco più presto 9:17

Check this teasing video by the Deutsche Grammophon with chosen moments of Ms Grimaud’s interview:

What makes Brahms interesting for Hélène Grimaud? It is the fact that he was respectful of the classics but definitely a modernist and an innovator.  His music was creative, elegant and very emotional. He was probably the most classical composers of his time, as he venerated a lot Beethoven. The  Piano Concert n.1 has a lot of influences of Beethoven. Check Hélène Grimaud website for more information about her work:
http://helenegrimaud.com

The two CD’s features the amazing work of Latvian conductor,Andris Nelsons. He is passionate about his job, he invests a lot of energy on each concert he conducts and he is definitely the perfect match to lead the 2 orchestras behind Hélène Grimaud.
Andris-Nelsons-with-Helene-Grimaud

So this new album will be available in september 2013. To learn more about the album release and to listen to it in avant-premiere, you can connect to the Deutsche Grammophon dedicated page here:
http://www.deutschegrammophon.com

Can’t wait september.

LA

 

Info sourced at Deutsche Grammophon, Helene Grimaud websites, wikipedia,youtube. All content is copyrighted with no reproduction rights available.