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.
