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Pianists Andsnes and Grimaud in recitals
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Recitals Review
LEIF OVE ANDSNES, Sunday at Spivey Hall. www.spiveyhall.org. HELENE GRIMAUD, Tuesday at Emory University’s Schwartz Center. www.arts.emory.edu.
Two roaring young lions of the piano, Leif Ove Andsnes, from Norway, and Helene Grimaud, born in France, are commonly mentioned together.
Yes, both performed in Atlanta this week. Both are in their early 30s and deliver a complete package of goods — intelligence, virtuosity, searching interpretations and that alchemic ingredient: movie-star charisma. Yet they have little in common.
They’re also both on a new CD of Bartok piano concertos (conducted by Pierre Boulez, on Deutsche Grammophon) but that’s really as far as it goes.
Their recitals made that plain.
Andsnes is an extrovert. His sound is broad and open, his tone a bit glossy. He opened his Spivey Hall recital with Schubert’s D major Sonata (D. 850). We often think of late Schubert as “poetic,” where the composer distills ideas and emotions into a concentrated, multi-faceted statement. Andsnes made it seem the opposite, like it was a tell-all novel, not poetry. Music was merely a language, and he elaborated and explained every episode in an almost conversational fashion.
Indeed, for long stretches, I forgot Andsnes was playing the piano. Wasn’t it a vivacious dialogue, up there on stage, between pianist and composer?
Before playing Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” — in one of the freshest, most theatrical performances of it I’ve ever heard — Andsnes played a new piece commissioned for him.
Danish composer Bent Sorensen’s 16-minute “The Shadows of Silence” fused watery Impressionism with angst-driven Expressionism as a depiction of light and darkness. Its colors were shimmering shades of gray, like fast-drifting storm clouds over the shore. It ended ambiguously, with Andsnes asked to hum a tune over noodling chords, followed by a sunny resolution, followed by a quiet retreat into the distance. It felt beguilingly Scandinavian.
In complete contrast to Andsnes, who is an unfussy “modern” player, Helene Grimaud is an introvert at the keyboard, a quietly brooding romantic.
When she sat down to play Chopin and Rachmaninoff, Tuesday at the Schwartz Center, she smiled at the audience then seemed to tune us out; we were then invited to listen to her private meditations.
For Chopin’s Berceuse, she skipped the whimsy and dropped the sentimentality, looking for something deeper. With a powerful left hand, she made the rocking lullaby motion percussive, creating an unexpected volley of contrasts. If it’s genius to make a well-worn work sound utterly original, Grimaud has it.
Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 showed flashes of willfulness, a steely determination to have it her own way. It paid off: she sewed the disparate-sounding movements together as a unified whole.
She painted on a large canvas for Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No. 2 (in the superior 1913 version), handling the keys like de Kooning handled paint — with thick, assertive brushstrokes and dazzling color.
If Grimaud used to have any detractors — I’m not sure there are any left — their argument was that her interpretations can be scattered or undisciplined.
What these literal-minded piano mavens miss is the larger picture: Grimaud isn’t playing notes, she’s grappling with ideas. Not the least bit populist, she’s a philosopher at the piano.
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By Barbara J.
January 26, 2005 12:08 PM | Link to this
I enjoyed reading Mr. Ruhe’s review of the two pianists. He is right on the money with Grimaud. Her pianism is extraordinary. There is no one else remotely like her. She and Andsnes are truely original musicians.
By Charlene W.
January 28, 2005 12:29 PM | Link to this
Mr. Ruhe’s comments about Grimaud’s performance are well-stated; I couldn’t agree more. Her genuineness comes through her personality as well as her playing, as those of us who met her after the concert can testify.
By Rachel
February 1, 2005 04:53 PM | Link to this
I also agree with Mr. Ruhe’s review of Grimaud. I especially appriciate his comments that she “is an introvert at the keyboard, a quietly brooding romantic” and that “she seemed to tune us out; we were then invited to listen to her private meditations.” I have experienced the stress of being on stage and I am amazed at her seeming lack of nerviousness, and her calm confidence.
By Wayne Gilreath
February 3, 2005 10:33 AM | Link to this
Helene Grimaud is a stunning performer and Mr. Ruhe’s comment “we were then invited to listen to her private meditations” could not have been better stated. Too often people think the music of Rachmaninoff is “overly virtuosic” and lacking any depth…I would suggest hearing it performed by an artist who doesn’t get caught up in the “show” of virtuosity, someone like Grimaud who can gracefully portray something as difficult as the Rachmaninoff and leave you hypnotized by the beauty of what you have heard, not how hard she worked to play all the notes. I was likewise stunned with her graciousness to the audience. It is not often a concert performer OFFERS four encores! It was a pleasure to hear Grimaud, and an even bigger pleasure to meet her backstage. A stunning performance by a stunningly beautiful performer…who could ask for more?