Helene Grimaud is one of the more delightfully unpredictable of today's pianists, balancing a hands-on involvement with American wildlife in Westchester County's Wolf Conservation Centre alongside fiercely explorative pianism.
Many were disappointed that her 2016 Water album didn't receive a local release. This was her boldest undertaking to date, an engrossing collection of pieces by composers from Liszt to Berio sharing a common theme of water.
In essence, it was the soundtrack of a 2014 New York event, masterminded by Scottish conceptual artist Douglas Gordon, with the French pianist at her Steinway surrounded by a vast man-made lake.
Grimaud's new Perspectives double album includes two Debussy and Liszt pieces from that occasion but shorn of the charming electronic sound squiggles by DJ Nitin Sawhney that introduced them on the Water CD.
At first sight, Perspectives may seem like cynically repackaged favourites but, if you can cope with your sonatas and concertos served up by the single movement, there are rewards, apart from the unfailing vigour and freshness of the playing.
Even with isolated extracts, you might find that Grimaud and Pierre Boulez's superlative first movement from Bartok's Third Concerto will prompt you to complete the work independently.
The swooning exhilaration of a Mozart sonata finale certainly had me revisiting the whole work on her 2010 Resonances album.
Jed Distler's booklet essay is extremely helpful, putting Grimaud's thoughts alongside her choices of works and composers. His description of Beethoven being pulled off his pedestal fits well with Grimaud's wildfire Emperor finale; the pianist's comment on seeing a Rachmaninov sonata as a lifetime work-in-progress is a thought-provoking observation on wider issues of musical interpretation.
How nice, too, having both discs end with what comes across as an encore. The first is graced by a lingering Brahms waltz; the second by Sgambati's celebrated Gluck transcription that seems to float to heaven itself in Grimaud's hands.
What: Helene Grimaud, Perspectives (Deutsche Grammophon)
Rating: 4/5
Verdict: French pianist's perspectival play is more than just a cynical greatest hits collection