1. ENGLISH
4
LISTENING
MUSIC
HELENE
GRIMAUD
FROM
:
EURONEWS,
24.8.2010
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Born:
November
7,
1969
-­‐
Aix-­‐en
Provence,
(south
of)
France
The
French
pianist,
Hélène
Grimaud,
studied
with
Jacqueline
Courtin
at
the
conservatory
there
and
subsequently
in
Marseille
with
Pierre
Barbizet.
At
the
age
of
13
she
was
accepted
by
the
Paris
Conservatory
where
she
won
the
first
prize
in
piano
in
1985.
In
July,
immediately
after
graduating,
she
recorded
Sergei
Rachmaninov’s
Sonata
No.
2
and
the
complete
Etudes-­‐Tableaux
Op.
33
(Grand
Prix
du
disque,
1986).
She
studied
additionally
with
György
Sándor
and
Leon
Fleisher.
The
year
1987
marked
a
decisive
turning
point
in
her
career
with
appearances
at
MIDEM
in
Cannes
and
at
the
piano
festival
La
Roque
d’Anthéron,
her
first
recital
in
Tokyo
and
Daniel
Barenboim’s
invitation
to
perform
with
the
Orchestre
de
Paris.
Hélène
Grimaud
has
since
performed
with
many
of
the
world’s
major
orchestras
and
renowned
conductors.
One
of
her
first
teachers
once
told
her:
“I
don’t
want
you
to
be
the
best.
I
want
you
to
be
unique.”
Hélène
Grimaud
is
a
French
pianist,
among
the
most
acclaimed
on
the
international
music
scene.
A
Beethoven
enthusiast,
she
recently
played
the
Piano
Concerto
No.
5,
known
as
the
“Emperor”,
in
Berlin.
She
said:
“I
think
that
the
tools
available
to
Beethoven
to
write
his
music
were
insufficient
for
him.
He’s
someone
who
very
often
composed
by
pushing
the
boundaries
–
beyond
the
instruments
available
at
the
time,
and
even
beyond
the
‘reality’
of
the
musical
matter.
“When
faced
with
such
energy…
there’s
something
irrepressible…
and
yet,
one
has
to
deal
with
something
tangible,
something
with
limits
of
its
own.
Finding
the
right
balance
between
his
crazy
extremism
while
holding
on
the
reins…
well,
this
is
what
I
find
to
be
the
most
difficult
in
this
concert.”
Hélène
only
approached
this
Concerto
in
recent
years.
“For
a
long
time
I
couldn’t
come
to
terms
with
a
somewhat
martial
colour
in
this
music;
but
as
I
approached
this
work,
I
realised
it’s
actually
something
different;
it’s
rather
joyful,
overflowing,
there’s
a
vital
energy
in
it,
an
earthly
force
exploding
from
this
work;
and
this
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
military
tone
I
perceived
when
I
was
younger,”
she
said.
She
believes
that
over
time
music
changes,
and
matures,
inside
the
interpreter:
“Even
over
a
short
lapse
of
time
of
only
five
years,
it
changes
all
the
time;
and
this
is
also
the
mystery,
and
the
miracle,
of
this
music
–
that
it
changes
inside
you,
despite
you,
regardless
of
you.
Once
you’ve
absorbed
it,
its
matter,
its
fibre
–
and
this
happens
also
when
you’re
not
working
on
it,
when
you’re
not
playing
it
–
well,
when
you
get
back
to
it,
you
realise
that
it
has
grown
and
taken
on
a
life
of
its
own,
as
it
were,
within
you.”
Hélène
Grimaud
is
a
perfectionist
but
she
rebuts
the
notion
of
perfection.
She
said:
“The
most
beautiful
moments
are
not
the
formally
perfect.
On
the
contrary,
they
are
when
you
feel
the
fragility,
the
abyss…
when
you
feel
that
everything
is
at
stake…
those
are
the
moments
that
touch
me,
that
excite
me
the
most,
that
seize
me.
I
think
that
art
best
expresses
itself
in
risk,
not
in
comfort.”
In
this
item
Grimaud
was
playing
Beethoven’s
Piano
Concerto
No.
5
in
E-­‐flat
major,
Op.
73
(‘Emperor’),
First
and
Second
Movement.
PHOTO
,
VIDEO
AND
SCRIPT
:
http://www.euronews.net/2010/08/24/pianist-­‐helene-­‐grimaud-­‐on-­‐passion-­‐and-­‐perfection
TEXT
IN
BOX
:
http://www.bach-­‐cantatas.com/Bio/Grimaud-­‐Helene.htm
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