Hélène Grimaud MEMORY ECHO (remixed by Nitin Sawhney)

Memory Echo sees Nitin Sawhney return to music and ideas he began exploring in 2018 with Hélène Grimaud for her Memory album. For this new release Sawhney has woven together four of his original compositions – The Fourth Window, Picturebook, Time and Breathing Light (performed by Hélène Grimaud) – with haunting remixes of Satie’s Gnossienne No.1, Debussy’s Clair de lune and Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, Op.34 No.14. By refining the essence of his collaboration with the French pianist, he has created the seven-track Memory Echo, set for release in digital-only format on 25 October 2019.

Sawhney’s remakes and new works flow naturally from the lyricism of Hélène Grimaud’s artistry. Each track evokes echoes of Memory with a subtle blend of electronics, acoustic sounds, mantra-like vocals and minimalist melodic riffs. Music’s power to conjure up images from and recollections of different times in our lives runs through Memory and Grimaud’s previous Sawhney-produced album for Deutsche Grammophon, Water, a timely meditation on threats to the world’s most precious resource.

Fanfare hailed Grimaud’s playing on Water and Memory as “exquisite” and strongly recommended the latter to “anyone who wants to eavesdrop on a great pianist for an intimate experience”. Gramophone echoed Fanfare in its review of Memory: “when you … listen to this disc with concentration and undivided attention, you’ll be well rewarded”, while Dresden’s Sächsische Zeitung concluded that “Memory offers us a brief moment in which to remember the inherent beauty of life.”

As well as paying tribute to Grimaud’s intense exploration of mindfulness and the nature of reminiscence, Memory Echo explores these themes further, developing them to create a beautiful new musical narrative.