Pianist Rafał Blechacz in Recital

by

Lyn Bronson

  

Every once in a while you hear a pianist who is so gifted you know instantly there is nothing this pianist can’t do. Such a one is twenty-two-year-old Polish pianist Rafał Blechacz.  Not only is he obviously very intelligent, but he also has extraordinary athletic skills – I have the feeling that if he took up golf, in five years he would be giving Tiger Woods a run for his money. These qualities were abundant in his recital last night at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose where he was being presented by the Steinway Society. Blechacz exhibited a total mastery at the keyboard, and it was seemingly effortless.

By the end of the evening we got the impression that we had been listening to two different pianists: Blechacz the flashy virtuoso (“I am going to blow you away with my incredible technique”) and Blechacz the sensitive musician (“I am going to amaze you with how expressively I can color and shape this phrase”). These two personalities clashed throughout the evening, but ultimately the virtuoso tended to dominate at the expense of the sensitive musician. We were also always aware as he shifted from one mode to the other, that much of his dynamic expression and runaway virtuoso display was being done for pianistic effect, rather than being dictated by organic directives of the music itself.

The recital began with Mozart’s Sonata in D Major, K.311. Unfortunately a microphone used for pre-concert announcements had been left on, so that during the entire sonata the dynamic level was heightened to the extent that we heard  a Mozart Sonata as it might be performed at the Hollywood Bowl with amplification and two-second reverb added. Listening beyond this distortion, however, we still were able to hear magnificently clean articulation and phrasing and an exciting vibrant approach to Mozart. It was impressive.

Next on the program was Debussy’s Estampes, and here it was the final section, Jardins sous la pluie, that was most extraordinary. This was a lovely fleet performance that built to powerful climaxes and left us with the impression you would never hear it played any better. Pagodes and La soirée dans Grenade, however, were disappointing, since they were so overplayed that they never achieved the hushed magical sonorities so essential to their charm. Pagodes, supposedly pp at its beginning started mf, and La soirée dans Grenade, marked ppp or pp for most of its 136 measures was entirely too loud throughout.

The first half of the program ended with an extraordinary performance of a seldom heard masterpiece, the Variations in B-flat Minor, Op. 3, by Karol Szymanowski. We heard homage to several composers in this set of variations, most noticeably Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. Although the central section, with its three slower and softer variations, was exquisite, the overall effect of this work was marred by exaggerated overplaying that produced some truly ugly percussive sounds, especially in the final variation and ending.

After intermission we heard the Chopin Preludes, Op. 28. These extraordinary miniatures brought out the best and the worst in Blechacz, for there were some like the B minor Prelude, No. 6, and the F-sharp major Prelude, No. 13, which were gorgeously shaped like exquisite jewels – never will you hear them played any better. Others like the G-sharp minor, No. 12, the E-flat minor, No. 14 (these two sounded like newly-discovered Rachmaninoff Etudes Tableaux) and the final one in D minor that ended the set were pounded out furioso. Anything marked piano was played mezzo forte, and anything marked forte was played fortissimo. Incidentally, Blechacz on his CD of the Preludes, which contains some lovely and refined playing, never indulges in the excesses we heard during this concert. I hope we are not observing a syndrome where artists of stature have contempt for audiences in the provinces (perhaps to them we are the “hicks in the sticks”), and where they reserve their best performances for more sophisticated audiences in prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall before New York Times critics Bernard Holland or Anthony Tommasini.

Le Petit Trianon is a small recital hall seating approximately 400 people. It is constructed like an ideal European box-shaped hall with three reflective surfaces (ceiling and both walls). You would expect that a pianist would normally adjust his volume to fit such a live and intimate venue, but Blechacz played last night as though he was in a 3000-seat concert hall, and ultimately the music suffered.  However, we have to remember that Blechacz is only 22 years old, and that although already his playing bears the earmarks of a great pianist in the making, his polished performances on CD are an indication that he is capable of more than he gave us last night.

A wildly appreciative audience gave Blechacz a prolonged standing ovation and was rewarded with two encores, Chopin’s Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2, and Moszkowski’s Etude, La Jongleuse, (“The Lady Juggler)” 

 

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