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Thursday, July 21, 2005Hélène Grimaud: Chopin/RachmaninovFor her latest album (for Deutsche Grammaphon), Grimaud explores, in her own view, the notion of death and transcedence. For the task, she's chosen some lovely romantic compositions, namely the second piano sonatas of Rachmaninov and Chopin, as well as Chopin's Berceuse and Barcarolle. Rachmaninov's Second Piano Sonata poses a tricky issue for pianists: Whether to play the original version or the 1931 revision. Like the Horowitz performance that inspired her love of the piece, Grimaud decided on both, using the structure of the 1931 but reinserting her favorite bits from the original to the extent that they didn't break up the structure of the work. The whole album, of course, is nicely done. The Finale to Rachmaninov's Second dazzles, the Berceuse from Chopin soothes, and so on. But it is Grimaud's presentation of the inevitable Marche funèbre that makes the album. In the liner notes, Grimaud tries to find the words to explain the interlinking of death and transcedence and how they are present in her two composers. But in the third movement of Chopin's Second Piano Sonata, she gives a far more apt demonstration. In between the ponderous ploddings of the opening and closing bars, there is a lilt that reminds us that for the living life remains. A tautology, to be sure, but one that bears reiteration. Grimaud wanted to show that death is a sort of rebirth, a place where we get back to our essence. She wanted to capture something we normally miss. In listening to the Marche funèbre, one ordinarily has little trouble conjuring up visions of old men struggling to move the coffin along, or of widows weeping and the parish priest offering pithy words about heaven. Here, however, we see the little children that don't quite understand, and the older folks who not only believe but know the truth of the priest's platitudes. Here, there is a little bit of life dancing behind the scenes. Very nice. 
posted by gbarto at 12:41 AM |
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