Name: Hélène Grimaud: Credo
Year: 2013
Genre: Classical
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
Artist: Hélène Grimaud (Piano), Swedish Radio Choir, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Description:

Credo by Hélène Grimaud is one of the most effectively sequenced discs ever released. The movement from the hazy postmodernism of John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato for solo piano and the passionate Romanticism of Beethoven's Tempest Sonata for solo piano, then on through the Enlightenment ecstasy of Beethoven's Choral Fantasia for piano solo, orchestra, and chorus, and culminating in the nihilist excesses of Arvo Pärt's massive Credo for piano solo, orchestra, and chorus, is musically and dramatically overwhelming. Individually, the effectiveness of her performances is debatable. Is her Corigliano Fantasia melancholy and pensive or slightly narcissistic? Is her Beethoven Tempest individualistically radical or almost eccentric? Is her Beethoven Choral Fantasia with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Swedish Radio Choir brilliantly postmodern or just strange? And is Grimaud and Salonen's Pärt Credo anything but a metaphor for life itself: mostly boring, sometimes unbearable, and occasionally very beautiful? Taken all together as a single aesthetic act, Grimaud's Credo is nevertheless completely compelling while it's happening, and what more can one ask of a work of art? Deutsche Grammophon's sound has never been more translucent and immediate.

Tracklist:
  John Corigliano (b.1938)
1. Fantasia on an Ostinato 12:04
  Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
  Piano Sonata No.17 in D minor, Op.31 No.2 - "Tempest"
2. 1. Largo - Allegro 8:20
3. 2. Adagio 7:39
4. 3. Allegretto 5:59
  Fantasia For Piano, Chorus And Orchestra In C Minor, Op.80
5. 1. Adagio 3:36
6. 2. Finale: a) Allegro - Meno allegro - Allegro molto - Adagio ma non troppo - Marcia, assai vivace 15:27
  Arvo Pärt (b.1935)
7. Credo for Piano solo, Mixed Choir and Orchestra 15:16

Issued: USA | Universal Music
Duration: 1:08:30