Just
hours after the news that the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra
had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Miami International
Piano Festival presented one of the most remarkable keyboard
recitals of the year.
Without diminishing the devastating impact the Philharmonic's
demise will have on its musicians -- and the void it leaves
in the local arts community -- the sequence of events is a
salient reminder that life goes on and South Florida's music
scene will survive.
Piotr Anderszewski's profile has risen exponentially since
his 1999 debut at the Miami festival. The Polish-Hungarian
pianist returned to open the festival's Discovery Series with
music of Bach and Chopin on Wednesday night at the Lincoln
Theatre.
The first half of the program was devoted to Book II of Bach's
Well-Tempered Clavier. Presenting the final third of the work,
Preludes and Fugues Nos. 17-24, the pianist richly demonstrated
once again why he is one of the most probing and eloquent
keyboard artists of our day.
Listening to Anderszewski's poetic, luminous playing, it's
hard to believe that for a long time this music was regarded
as dry and academic. The universe of subtle expression he
drew from Bach's music was astounding in its variety and range
of color. Fugues were boldly projected with great contrapuntal
vigor, voicings always clear. The pianist pointed up contrasts
throughout, his supple fingerwork making each succeeding prelude
and fugue open up new musical vistas.
Even the gnarly polyphonic thickets of the A major fugue
emerged with striking clarity. Time and again, Anderszewski's
quicksilver sensibility and poetic touch, with its hairpin
dynamic shifts and expressive shading, made each succeeding
prelude bloom anew. The A minor Prelude and Fugue sounded
jarringly modern, almost atonal in its clash of rising and
falling notes.
Yet the introspective music made the strongest impact. Anderszewski
conveyed the otherworldly mystery of the Fugue in G sharp
minor, which was especially moving in its rapt, elevated spirituality.
Even by this artist's standards, this was extraordinarily
communicative music making and Bach playing of the first order.
Chopin has long been absent from Anderszewski's repertoire,
rather surprisingly for a Polish pianist. Yet in his rendering
of the three Op. 59 Mazurkas, he displayed an innate idiomatic
feeling for this national music, subtly teasing out the dance
rhythms while deftly blending elegance with a sinewy agitation.
Even Chopin's brilliant Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53,
emerged freshly minted. Invested with a slightly heavier tread
than usual, Anderszewski made the folk flavor manifest and
tossed off the thundering octaves and fireworks with staggering
virtuosity and panache.
The program closed with more Bach. Even more than in his
recent recording, Anderszewski's reading of the Partita No.
1 found an ideal middle ground between bracing energy and
the pianist's Romantic sensibility. While the Baroque dance
inspiration was always palpable, Anderszewski brought an iridescent
sense of color and nuance to this music. The Sarabande was
most impressive, rendered with a spare fragile lyricism, and
played so gently the pianist's fingers seemed to barely brush
the keys.
For encores, Anderszewski offered a Beethoven Bagatelle and
the Prelude in D minor from Bach's Sixth English Suite, the
latter played with masterly control and interior expression.
Lawrence A. Johnson can be reached at ljohnson@sun-sentinel.com
or 954-356-4708.
