Event is Live
Carnegie Hall Presents

Hélène Grimaud, Piano

Thursday, December 1, 2022 8 PM Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Hélène Grimaud
Hélène Grimaud is a singular pianist, an interpreter known for her fierce intelligence and sincere freedom of expression. In this characteristically thoughtful program, she performs choice selections by Chopin, Debussy, and Satie; R. Schumann’s Kreisleriana; and exquisite short pieces by Valentin Silvestrov—and she approaches each of them with deep respect as well as individual artistry. Hear what insights await when this beloved artist makes her long-anticipated return as a Carnegie Hall recitalist.

Performers

Hélène Grimaud, Piano

Program

VALENTIN SILVESTROV Bagatelle I

DEBUSSY Arabesque No. 1

VALENTIN SILVESTROV Bagatelle II

SATIE Gnossienne No. 4

CHOPIN Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72, No. 1 (posth.)

SATIE Gnossienne No. 1

SATIE "En y regardant à deux fois" from Pièces froides, No. 2

DEBUSSY La plus que lente

CHOPIN Mazurka in A Minor, Op. 17, No. 4

CHOPIN Waltz in A Minor, Op. 34, No. 2

DEBUSSY "Clair de lune" from Suite bergamasque

DEBUSSY Rêverie

SATIE "Passer" from Pièces froides, No. 2

R. SCHUMANN Kreisleriana


Encores:

RACHMANINOFF Étude-tableau in C Major

CHOPIN Etude in F Minor, from Trois nouvelles études, Op. Posth., No. 1

RACHMANINOFF Étude-tableau in C-sharp Minor, Op. 33, No. 9 (published as No. 6)

VALENTIN SILVESTROV Bagatelle in E Major

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission. 

Listen to Selected Works

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At a Glance

Tonight’s program features 11 short pieces by Chopin, Satie, and Debussy—joint founders of the modern school of French piano music—in dialogue with a pair of atmospheric “bagatelles” by contemporary Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Both Satie and Debussy openly emulated their Polish-born predecessor (who died before either of them was born). For the poetically minded Debussy, “Chopin was a delightful teller of tales of love and war, and he often slips away to that forest of As You Like It in which the fairies are the sole mistresses of the mind.” Hélène Grimaud sounds a similar note when she writes that the three composers’ miniature tone poems “conjure atmospheres of fragile reflection, a mirage of what was—or could have been.”

Robert Schumann, whose masterful Kreisleriana occupies the second half of the program, was equally outspoken in his admiration for his near-exact contemporary. In an article published in 1831, he famously saluted the 21-year-old Chopin with the words, “Hats off, gentlemen, a genius!” Ever since, their names have been closely linked in the annals of musical Romanticism.

Bios

Hélène Grimaud

Renaissance woman Hélène Grimaud is not just a deeply passionate and committed musical artist whose pianistic accomplishments play a central role in her life. She is also a woman with multiple talents that extend far beyond the instrument she plays with such poetic expression and ...

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