Resonance

"Helene Grimaud's dash through Mozart's A minor Sonata might seem overly mannered to some, but the French pianist's concept album is her strongest yet. At the core are two sonatas - Liszt's monument of romantic rhetoric, humanised as only Grimaud can, and Alban Berg's one-movement sonata from 1910 which draws the curtain on the century that has just been."
(William Dart NZ Herald)

After a brief absence from the concert platform, Hélène Grimaud is back and presenting a brand new solo recital programme, which she will take on a world-wide tour during the upcoming concert season.

The pianist has conceived another programme of works spanning a wide range of emotions and styles, yet all linked by their origin in that singular musical line of succession: the great composers of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Her new album bears the title Résonance, reflecting Grimaud's imaginative approach to this stimulating compilation of masterpieces.

Hélène Grimaud brings all her artistic maturity and a perfect balance between intellect and emotion to bear on highly dramatic sonatas by Mozart - the A minor K.310 - Liszt and Berg, leavened by Bartók's irresistible Romanian Folk Dances.

For Grimaud the keystone here is Alban Berg's hyper-charged, ultra-romantic Opus 1. In this highly concentrated work, the fascinating interrelationships, resonances, between the composers and pieces are summarized and condensed. "This is a music drama in the miniature form of a single-movement sonata," comments Grimaud, "a maximum of expression that seems to emanate directly from the heart - contained within a piece of incredibly clear structure."