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Created around a theme of water, Hélène Grimaud’s new recital tour began November 11th in Bern, Switzerland.

The recital brings together works from nine composers: Berio, Takemitsu, Fauré, Ravel, Albéniz, Liszt, Janáček, Debussy, and Brahms.

Hélène describes her vision behind the new repertoire:

“This selection of music is not meant to be a bibliographical juxtaposition of all pieces for piano ever to bear a title having to do with the theme of water. Were that to be the case, I would of course present quite a few additional works by Liszt, Ravel and Debussy to name only the most obvious.

Most of the 20th century pieces seem to focus more on the colourful, decorative, atmospheric and poetic nature of water. To complete the range of expressive possibilities, a return to the source (no pun intended) seemed inevitable.

One of the founding precepts of the German Romantic movement was not only that all disciplines of our existence take root in a global intuition, hence the Universalism philosophy so dear to my heart but more relevantly in this present case, that Nature is the ultimate muse and an inextinguishable source of inspiration as well as a bridge to the spiritual world.”

Hélène’s tour features performances throughout Europe and North America. Highlights include a special event at The Armory in NYC where she will collaborate with renowned visual artist Douglas Gordon, as well as a performance at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Program:

Berio: Wasserklavier
Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch II
Fauré: Barcarolle 5
Ravel: Jeux d’eaux
Albéniz: Almeria
Liszt: Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este
Janáček: In the mists 1
Debussy: La cathédrale engloutie
— intermission —
Brahms: Sonata no. 2

See all concert dates here.