Anderszewski makes every note count at Gilmore opener
April 29, 2002
BY C.J. GIANAKARIS
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE

When 33-year-old Piotr Anderszewski strode on stage at Miller Auditorium Saturday evening, dressed in dark suit and shirt, it was an eagerly awaited moment for the audience at the opening night concert of this year's Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival.

It was their first chance to hear the 2002 Gilmore Artist perform.

Anderszewski, whose parentage is both Polish and Hungarian, won over the hushed audience by combining flawless technique and perceptive musical intelligence. Ever attentive to the score, he measured the role of each tone to the whole, so that not a single note was wasted the entire evening.

To launch his term as the new Gilmore Artist, Anderszewski turned to Mozart's lovely Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (K. 491). Under Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Maestro Raymond Harvey's brisk but not rushed tempo, the pianist began with ravishing double pianissimos, which instantly were elevated to muscular fortes through Anderszewski's ability with dynamics. His blend with the orchestra was marvelous, so that he and the KSO became a single instrument.

"Larghetto," the sweetly calm second movement, showed Anderszewski to be fearless with quiet notes. With his hands, pianissimos always were articulated and readily audible. Here, however, the KSO was not always synched to the director's baton. Harvey re-established a crisp pace in the final movement, where the woodwind ensemble delighted.

Gilmore Award 2002 Articles:

WALL STREET JOURNAL
• A Prize-Winning Pianist And His Taste for Paradox

KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
• Gilmore Artist does things his own way

• Anderszewski makes every note count at Gilmore opener

• All-Bach program is subdued, a challenge

NEW YORK TIMES
• Another Maverick Finds a Home in Kalamazoo

MIAMI HERALD
• Anderszewski's Prize

In an unusual but welcome move, Anderszewski performed a second concerto as the final piece on the program, Bartok's highly energized Piano Concerto No. 3 (Sz.119). Composed in 1945 just before he died, this piece effectively exhibits his unique musical personality. Percussiveness permeates his scores, featuring highly original rhythmic patterns as well as rapid shifts of time signatures.

Stunning and provocative musical coloring also arises in this work. A shimmering effect is created with quiet trills, and lush harmonies emerge in broken chord runs. But primitive percussive effect also can be generated. Anderszewski accommodated all the driving syncopation in totally controlled fashion, lending a melodic line to the staccato notes.

In the second section, "Adagio religioso," Bartok conjures unique woodland scenes. Within a soothing, almost spiritual, setting, he writes twittering bird-like music in the woodwind parts, answered crisply by pecking bites from the piano. Anderszewski integrated the piano part with the other instruments to an uncanny degree, allowing the melodies to sing back and forth.

To begin the final movement, Anderszewski displayed a staggering display of rhythmic variations. As the percussiveness of the section increased, so too did the musical excitement, until a chromatic scale provided a thrilling conclusion.

The audience clearly appreciated the pianist's talent, giving him a standing ovation that did not stop until Anderszewski came back for a Bach encore.

Earlier in the program, the orchestra performed two pieces on its own. It gave a fine performance of Weber's Overture to the opera "Der Freischutz" as the opening number. The harmonizing horns sounded terrific, as did the various woodwinds, and the violins mightily impressed with excellent intonation and fine, crisp attacks.

Prior to Bartok's concerto, the orchestra performed his Hungarian Sketches (Sz.97), five distinct tone poems Bartok orchestrated from his own original piano works. The moods of these pieces shift from delicate lyricism to Bartok's more usual percussive style. Throughout, the orchestra responded superbly to Harvey's intricate direction.

With Saturday night's concert, the music of the Gilmore Festival just began to flow, with a heady choice of programs to come through May 11.