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W. Mozart-Mozart

Mozart [CD]
~ W. Mozart

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Central to H l ne Grimaud's first live album for Deutsche Grammophon is the significance she finds in the slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This movement is a touchstone for her, insofar as she regards it as the most sublime music, "where you find the real Mozart." She has also stated, "Even if this movement were all we had, that would be enough." Because of the emphasis Grimaud places on this poignant Adagio in F sharp minor, listeners may be tempted to cut to the chase and skip the other tracks to hear her interpretation. But to get the full impact and intent of her Mozart, listen from the beginning of this album. The Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459, opens the disc, and is followed by the Recitative and Rondo, K. 505, from Idomeneo, performed by guest soprano Mojca Erdmann. Grimaud's playing and conducting of the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra are brisk and boisterous, and her approach is direct and energetic, as fans have experienced in her many recordings of Romantic repertoire. She saves her most expressive playing for the Allegretto of K. 459, which is an amiable diversion, and the above-mentioned Adagio of K. 488, which in Grimaud's hands is a dark and troubling exploration of the soul. Note: the cadenzas in K. 459 are Mozart's, but the first movement cadenza of K. 488 is by Ferruccio Busoni. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

Classical Data

64:46
Concerto
Romantic
H l ne Grimaud
France
H l ne Grimaud is a pianist who defies feminine stereotypes. Her favored repertory has been Brahms, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Schumann, and Liszt, not the less muscular music of Mozart (which she didn't perform until she was 21 or record until 2010), Poulenc, or Chopin. Grimaud's lush sound and sweeping interpretations drew comparisons to such pianists as Martha Argerich and Jorge Bolet. Although born in France, Grimaud has not identified herself with French culture and music. She is of North African, Corsican, and Italian Jewish heritage (her family changed its name from Grimaldi before she was born), and from her early adulthood she has been based in the United States. An "agitated and agitating" child by her own admission, Grimaud started studying the piano at nine with Jacqueline Courtin of the Aix Conservatoire, simply as a channel for her surplus energy. After only three years, she was able to play Schumann's Papillons, the first movement of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, and Faur 's Barcarolle No. 5 impressively, and after further lessons with Pierre Barbizet in Marseilles, she entered the Paris Conservatory at 13. In Paris, as an impatient and rebellious student of Jacques Rouvier, Genevieve Joy, and Christian Ivaldi, she insisted on learning repertory at a faster pace than the conservatory system allowed; on her own, she arranged to play the Chopin Concerto in F minor with the conservatory orchestra back in Aix when she was 14. Rouvier, impressed, gave a tape of that concert to a producer for Denon and that company, initially not realizing that Grimaud was in her early teens, recorded her in Rachmaninov's Sonata No. 2 and Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 33. That CD garnered a Grand Prix du Disque; Grimaud was only 16. On the strength of that and a French radio broadcast, in 1987 she began playing concerts outside the conservatory, including an engagement at age 18 with Daniel Barenboim and the Orchestre de Paris (only her fourth public concert). She maintains friendships with Barenboim, Martha Argerich, and Gidon Kremer and greatly admires the work of Vladimir Horowitz and Glenn Gould, yet she is never as prone to waywardness as those musicians. Grimaud does share Gould's fascination with clear counterpoint and Argerich's and Kremer's general intensity. Yet her treatment of Brahms, for example, avoids attention-getting extremes of tempo and instead follows what she has called a "pulsation that's very close to the ideal heartbeat," while also clarifying the textures. She is willing to take risks in performance, but only those that she feels illuminate the music rather than spotlight the soloist. In Rachmaninov, she emphasizes what she calls the music's "nobility of heart" and lyricism rather than its virtuosity. She has said that she tired of flashy pieces like Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies as a teenager and in her 20s, started to focus especially on such monolithic Austro-Germanic composers as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and Berg. She has continued a busy schedule of international performances with some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, focusing on concertos of Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Brahms, Schumann, Ravel, and Bart k. As a recitalist she has toured with repertoire including the works of Arvo P rt, John Corigliano, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms. Grimaud cites an appearance at The Last Night of the Proms in 2008 as a personal highlight of her career. Grimaud is extremely private, but her known eccentricities are no more extreme than a habit of learning music mostly by running it through her head rather than drilling it into her fingers. Perhaps it is this technique that has led to her concentration on overall musical line and color rather than moment-to-moment virtuosity. Grimaud took a university degree in animal behavior by correspondence, intending to be a biologist if music didn't work out. Since 1991, when she settled in the United States, her primary non-musical interest has been the preservation of wolves in their natural habitat. ~ James Reel, Rovi
Central to H l ne Grimaud's first live album for Deutsche Grammophon is the significance she finds in the slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488, of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This movement is a touchstone for her, insofar as she regards it as the most sublime music, "where you find the real Mozart." She has also stated, "Even if this movement were all we had, that would be enough." Because of the emphasis Grimaud places on this poignant Adagio in F sharp minor, listeners may be tempted to cut to the chase and skip the other tracks to hear her interpretation. But to get the full impact and intent of her Mozart, listen from the beginning of this album. The Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459, opens the disc, and is followed by the Recitative and Rondo, K. 505, from Idomeneo, performed by guest soprano Mojca Erdmann. Grimaud's playing and conducting of the Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra are brisk and boisterous, and her approach is direct and energetic, as fans have experienced in her many recordings of Romantic repertoire. She saves her most expressive playing for the Allegretto of K. 459, which is an amiable diversion, and the above-mentioned Adagio of K. 488, which in Grimaud's hands is a dark and troubling exploration of the soul. Note: the cadenzas in K. 459 are Mozart's, but the first movement cadenza of K. 488 is by Ferruccio Busoni. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

Details

W. Mozart
Mozart
Classical & Opera
Classical Composers
8 November 2011
Grimaud*Helene ~ Discs:1
Umgd/Deutsche Grammophon ( DEUT )
Compact Disc
1620402
Yes, Sale Ends 01 Jun 2012
028947794554
This Item Can Only Be Shipped To United States Addresses. No International Export.

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