Debussy: La Cathédrale Engloutie
My new favorite pianist is Hélène Grimaud. Every once in a while there is an artist that is talented, powerful, expressive, beautiful and driven to improve the world with their actions and abilities - Hélène Grimaud is a true Renaissance woman.
Extremely protective of her personal life, there is little information about her on the internet beyond her music. Here are a couple off facts: Born in 1969, she launched her professional career at the age of 18, making her debut with the Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Barenboim. She experiences synesthesia, where one physical sense adds to another, in her case seeing music as color, which helps her with memorizing music scores. She has recorded everything from Bach to the Rachmaninoff to Corigiliano. She has written three books, and is also a committed wildlife conservationist, and compassionate human rights activist. She is the founder of the Wolf Conservation Center, and has a passion for wolves, which she studies and raises.
Her last two recordings, WATER and MEMORY, are tributes to her artistry. Here is a performance from 2016 at the album launch event in Paris. There are illuminated bottles at the edges of the stage, filled with jellyfish. Please enjoy this transcendent performance, which starts with a bit of electronic music, Nitin Sawhney’s "Transition 7".
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