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Its not called "Miami Festival of Discovery"
for nothing. This second annual venture is bringing significant
keyboard talents to South Florida audiences this week; if
you're at all interested in the piano and what an imaginative
musician can do with it, you won't want to miss the remaining
concerts tonight and Friday.
Tuesday's recital at the Lincoln Theater in
Miami Beach was, indeed, a discovery. Piotr Anderszewski,
who is just getting out of his 20s, offered an artistically
mature performance, looking for colors and inner details of
Bach's counterpoint, tapping emotions and poetic musing in
evocative works by Grieg and Szymanowski.
In an unusual and clever move, Anderszewski
framed his program with Bach. He opened with the B minor Partita,
also known as Overture in the French Style, and closed with
the French Suite No. 5 in G major. The specifically French
musical characteristics in this works tend to be more interesting
to scholars than ordinary listeners these days, but the charms
of both scores are impossible to miss - at least when played
as engagingly as they were here.
Rather than try to approximate the leaner, crisper
sound of a harpsichord, Anderszewski reveled in the full range
of dynamics provided by the modern grand piano. His playing
was alive with contrasts and nuances; no phrase was allowed
to pass uneventfully mechanically. From delicate filigree
work to starling torrents, this was vital, visceral Bach.
The pianist's exquisite shading of Sarabande movements yielded
particular pleasure.
Exquisite is a word that also came to mind
as Anderszewski explored to pictoresque world of Grieg's Lyric
Pieces. The folk-dance items had plenty of bite; the Notturno
became a study in pastels and poetry; the opening Arietta
and its watzing echo at the end were carved with the subtlety
and charm of a Renoir.
Prismatic pianism continued in Scheherazade
from Szymanowski's Masques, which gave Anderszewski ample
opportunity to combine sterling technique with vibrant expression.
The festival's last two recitals bring bach
remarkable "discoveries" from last year's inaugural event
- Boris Berezovsky tonight, Konstantin Lifschitz on Friday.
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