Grimaud's Romantic Storm

Hélène Grimaud had played concertos in Carnegie Hall — she did so as recently as last month — but had never played a solo recital. And, on Wednesday night, she did. The French pianist brought music that she has long played, and most of which she has recorded. I suppose that a Carnegie Hall recital debut is no time for experimentation.

She began with Bach, or rather, Bach-Busoni — the great pianist's arrangement of Bach's Chaconne in D minor. Bach gave this piece to violinists, but many others have coveted it, and taken it.

Ms. Grimaud produced some funny accents, for example on quick notes preceding long ones. This isn't very musical, and may be considered wrong. Also, Ms. Grimaud did not quite pound, but she was effortful, especially with chords: They lacked resonance, that intothe-keys feeling. Furthermore, she overpedaled, muddying the waters. And she did some very unnecessary acceleration in Bach's D-major section.

So, those were some problems. But she did a lot well. She handled almost all of Busoni's technical demands, which are, of course, considerable. She rippled her way nicely through many passages. She brought out suspense. And she also brought out some of the Chaconne's struggle and spiritual greatness.

She then turned to Chopin, two pieces, his "Berceuse" and his "Barcarolle." Usually you get those later in a recital program. And is there any real need to play them both, similar as they are? Shouldn't one be left in the spotlight by itself? But then, pianists have a hard time leaving them alone, for they are great pieces.

At the beginning of the "Berceuse," Ms. Grimaud could have used stricter rhythm — if you want to veer off, you should wait a little. And she did not sing the line so much as plunk it. With all that plunking going on, how can baby sleep? (A "berceuse," as you know, is a lullaby.) The "Berceuse" should be smooth, glassy, lulling, dreamy — dream-making. Otherwise, it's not quite the "Berceuse."

The "Barcarolle" was much better, even though Ms. Grimaud was too rhapsodic, too early. And she committed some more of her overpedaling, resulting in blurs that should not have been there, or that should have been less dense. But, really, Ms. Grimaud gave a fine account of this beloved piece.

She ended the first half of her recital with the two Brahms Rhapsodies, Op.79. The first, in B minor, was filled with Ms. Grimaud's passion (and Brahms's).She is obviously attached to this music. But her fortes tended to be dull and blunt. She played loudly, all right — but these fortes were rarely arresting, did not make you sit up and take notice. And one gentle, heavenly section that Brahms includes was rushed and unsavored.

At the beginning of the G-minor Rhapsody, Ms. Grimaud's rhythmic hesitations were very ill-advised; they were ill-advised thereafter, too. But her general command — a passionate command — was not to be denied. As I have noted before, Ms. Grimaud is quite good at unleashing a Romantic storm. Most any piece called "Rhapsody"is up her alley. And she reminded me of the greatness of this G-minor piece, assigned to so many students.

After intermission, she played Rachmaninoff's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor — a Grimaud calling card, and up her alley indeed. She played it with equal parts ardor and discipline. In her hands, the sonata was admirably coherent, not sprawling or unwieldy. You could lodge complaints, to be sure. For example, some notes and harmonies in the slow movement should have been more entrancing than they were. Ms. Grimaud missed an opportunity here. But she left no doubt that she has mastered the B-flat-minor sonata.

(Incidentally, the slow movement has one of my favorite tempo markings of all time: "Non allegro," or not allegro. The movement is sandwiched between "Allegro agitato" and "Allegro molto.")

Her printed program through, Ms. Grimaud continued with a flat-out Rachmaninoff set: an Etude-tableau in C minor (Op. 33, No. 2), the Prelude in G-sharp minor, and the Etude-tableau in F minor. Rachmaninoff is kind to this lady, and she is kind to him, too.

Audiences seem enchanted by Ms. Grimaud, as well they might. She's beautiful, she loves wolves, she participates in worldwide charities. She is sort of an Audrey Hepburn of the keyboard. And, on Wednesday night, this endearing pianist — La Belle Hélène — gave a distinguished recital.