With the aptly-named Water, Hélène Grimaud probes the strength and beauty of H20, the most precious gift of nature, and a source of fascination for the pianist. Produced by Nitin Sawhney, who appears more regularly on the electro scene, here he has especially emphasized the fascination that water has inspired in many composers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This idea not only led to this record, it also resulted in a project of the Grimaud with Scottish artist Douglas Gordon, previous winner of the Turner Prize: a concert-installation entitled Tears Become ... designed specifically for the exercise room of a former military building in New York's Park Avenue Armory. Performed in December 2014, this show mixes visual art, music and architecture, and has at its center the "Water" programme of Hélène Grimaud. Before she starts playing, the gigantic hall was gradually flooded to give the impression of a huge "water field" (in the words of Gordon), which eventually encircled the piano concert. Nine composers are represented on the album which opens with Berio's Wasserklavier ("aquatic Piano"). Rain Tree Sketch II by Takemitsu, the Fifth Barcarolle by Fauré, Ravel's Jeux d'eau, Almería Iberia by Albéniz, the Liszt's Jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, the Andante Dans les brumes of Janáček and Debussy's La Cathédrale engloutie. These pages were recorded live during the New York concert-installation and then linked together by seven Transitions written and recorded by Nitin Sawhney. Finally, with Water, Hélène Grimaud brought together in a unique way her twin passions for music and the environment...