Bach itch

THROWN FOR A LUPINE In 2007, Grimaud published a memoir, Wild Harmonies: A Life of Music and Wolves.

Unbelievably, Hélène Grimaud isn’t sure which Beethoven piano concerto she’s to perform this weekend at Symphony Center. “I’m playing the Fourth, aren’t I? Am I not playing the Fourth?!?” she asks. As we double-check the CSO website, we assure her it’s the Fifth. The petite French pianist guffaws at her mistake and says, “Oooh-kay, then. I guess I’ll have to raise a red flag with management.”

At first we’re impressed with Grimaud’s acumen, that she can easily switch gears from prepping for the famous G-major concerto to committing to memory the “Emperor” in a matter of hours. Then, just as we’re set to send this article to the printers, the CSO e-mails a press release: “Valentina Lisitsa to replace Hélène Grimaud.” The release quotes Grimaud’s management: “An unfortunate miscommunication has occurred between Hélène Grimaud and her artist management company regarding the repertoire for her concerts with the CSO…. This discrepancy has been discovered too late for Ms. Grimaud to have time to prepare Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 to her satisfaction.” Oops.

After the recent release of Grimaud’s first Bach album (simply titled Bach), it seems Beethoven—whose works she’s considered her bible ever since she took up the piano as a child—hardly crosses the pianist’s mind these days.

“Of course, there is no hierarchy of composers,” she tells us from the Le Parker Meridien hotel in New York, where she’s prepping for another performance. “But Bach is the touchstone by which we pianists measure our instrumental and spiritual growth as a performer.” Despite having played Bach privately her entire life, the 39-year-old says she was never fully ready to trot him out before the public until now. In mystic tones, she recalls waiting for an intuitive “sign” before committing herself to a recording of Bach’s solo works, transcriptions and concerti on Deutsche Grammophon.

Grimaud deifies the Baroque composer, romantically equating the universality of his music to the overwhelming feelings of the great outdoors. Perhaps it’s the Alpine influence: The now-single ivory twinkler (Grimaud split with her longtime companion, photographer J. Henry Fair) keeps a home atop a mountain in Lucerne, Switzerland. “It’s this large landscape where the sheer dimension of it makes you feel insignificant,” she gushes—of Bach. “But at the same time, it’s such a humbling experience.”

Although the disc received a mixed critical response when it came out last month, Grimaud says she rarely actively seeks out her reviews. “You ever notice the greater the artists, the larger the share of horrible reviews?” For her next recording project, tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2011, she plans to trace the Austro-Hungarian Empire from Mozart to Liszt and Bartók to Berg.

When asked if she plans to work with modern composers, Grimaud says she’s accepting a few new-music commissions but makes clear that playing contemporary music just because it’s fashionable is absurd. “I’m more than happy to be a throwback, like Evgeny Kissin, happy with Beethoven, Schubert and Rach and whoever else.”

That very repertoire often shows up in her live performances, which have taken a curious detour since 2005. Born in Aix-en-Provence, Grimaud moved to the United States at age 21 and, four years ago, left the U.S. for Berlin. In Germany, she cherished performing in the Yellow Lounge series, where classical musicians play in intimate club settings. The now-defunct Morse Theatre had lobbied hard for her to play a similar gig in Rogers Park, but much to Grimaud’s disappointment, the CSO denied her that privilege. According to orchestra spokeswoman Raechel Alexander, Grimaud was contractually obliged not to play elsewhere while in Chicago. The pianist claims New York similarly keeps her on a tight leash when she comes to town.

Inevitably, our conversation with the famous lupine lover turns to wolves. The Wolf Conservation Center she started ten years ago in South Salem, New York, still thrives, but her role there has significantly diminished after her latest move. There was a time and place for her wolves, she tells us, but her music—which regularly “transports and exhausts her soul”—now takes precedence. “The wolf project took a lot of time away from my playing,” she reflects. “It really is wonderful to be able to do more of what I was supposed to do a long time ago.”

Bach is out now on Deutsche Grammophon.

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