Eight months after her dazzling performance of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Bamberg Symphony and Jakub Hrůša, Hélène Grimaud returned for a recital combining ‘The Three Bs’.
She began with an uncommonly resonant reading of Beethoven’s antepenultimate Sonata, the energetic opening of the first movement contrasting clearly with the more introspective Adagio section. The brief but explosive central Prestissimo unfolded with forcefulness before giving way to the third movement where, supplanting the usual rondo-form Finale, the exquisitely voiced chorale theme was expressively rendered, followed by the six variations full of unexpected turns, fervid runs and shimmering trills.
Brahms’s Opus 117 Intermezzos, his ‘lullabies of grief”, with their blend of wistful lyricism and smoldering turbulence, proceeded amiably, Grimaud infusing the pieces with warmth, wistful nostalgia and glorious tone. The rocking rhythms of the E-flat first and the flowing meter of the more reflective B-flat minor second unspooled with limpid fluency. The restrained emotions of the C-sharp minor third were fairly-tempered, coming off as more melancholic than tragic.
In the Opus 116 Fantasies, Grimaud strongly accentuated the contrasting moods in Brahms’s mix of restless, exuberant ‘Capriccios’ with slower, more reflective ‘Intermezzos’. The outer pieces were fiery and melodramatic. In between came a succession of compelling moments. Vehemence dominated the first ‘Capriccio’, giving way to an emotionally restrained ‘Intermezzo’ in A-minor, its wistful mood completely erased by the energy and high spirits of the ‘Capriccio’ in G-minor. The graceful central ‘Adagio’ in E opened simply but generated deeper emotions as it progressed. The ensuing E-minor ‘Intermezzo’, tenderly rendered, generated a sense of loneliness, while the final example in this group of three, in E, was delivered with consoling serenity, leading into the D-minor ‘Capriccio’, to close the set.
To conclude, a magisterial account of Ferruccio Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s Chaconne, composed for violin. Straightforward and muscular in its broad contours, Grimaud’s stunning playing, distinguished throughout by attention to inner detail and bold choices in texture, tempo, and dynamics, was so full of life and drama as to leave us breathless.
Grimaud played three encores: Valentin Silvestrov’s Bagatelle II and two of Rachmaninoff’s Opus 33 Études–tableaux in C-major and in C-minor.
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