French pianist Helene Grimaud plays with time

Acclaimed French classical pianist Helene Grimaud, who has earned a reputation for playing by her own rules, thinks there should be no contradiction between freedom and fidelity.

- Shawn Hoo

As a child, listening to Russian classical pianist Sviatoslav Richter play Austrian composer Franz Schubert's Piano Sonata In B-flat Major, she was intrigued by the marriage of these two seemingly incompatible ideas and asked: "How is it possible to be so removed from the text and at the same time be so true to it?"

Grimaud is in town to perform French composer Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto In G Major at the Victoria Concert Hall with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) on Oct 16 and a recital at the same venue on Oct 17.

In an hour-long roundtable with the media on Oct 15, the 54-year-old was voluble and erudite about her life and music.

The virtuoso pianist discovered the piano at seven and was accepted into the Paris Conservatoire at 13, winning first prize in piano performance three years later.

Her musical milestones include debuting in 1995 with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Claudio Abbado, and the New York Philharmonic under maestro Kurt Masur in 1999.