Reflection

"If you've heard this lovely work [the Concerto] once too often in a merely average performance, then drink deeply at Grimaud's spring, for you'll leave refreshed...not an overblown romantic gesture, and no cloying sentimentality; instead a strong, straightforward reading where every note seems just so, yet without feeling calculated."
BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Choice - February 2006

"Hélène Grimaud presents us with a second lovingly themed gift, this time mirroring the entwined love of Robert and Clara Schumann and their adored protégé, Johannes Brahms. Grimaud's performance of Robert's Piano Concerto is a superbly bracing riposte to more indulgent and sentimental readings. Brilliantly partnered by Esa-Pekka Salonen, who conducts with all the joy of first discovery, she launches the work with fierce authority before playing the principal theme with a rare sense of its expressivo and affetuoso character. She is no less bold and impassioned partnering Anne Sofie von Otter, an ideal match for a singer whose intensity and vision leave you in no doubt that Clara was a more-than-gifted composer as well as a great pianist. ...joins Truls Mørk in the E minor Cello Sonata, where you get an almost palpable sense of the artists lifting each other to heights they might find hard to achieve alone. Few performances on record have a more robust eloquence and fervour."
Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice - February 2006