RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Pour le Piano (1901) [11.56] (Prelude [3.48]; Sarabande [4.11]; Toccata [3.57])
Estampes (1903) [12.48] (Pagodes [5.00]; La Soirée dans Grenade [4.12]; Jardins
sous la pluie [3.36])
L’isle joyeuse (1904) [5.36]
Karol SZYMANOWSKI (1882-1937)
Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor (1909) [6.42]
Sonata in C minor Op 8 (1904) [25.20] (Allegro moderato [6.39]; Adagio [5.04];
Tempo di Minuetto [3.43]; Finale [2.26]; Fuga [7.28])
Rafal Blechacz (piano)
rec. Hamburg-Harburg, Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, January 2011. DDD
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9548 [62.22]
Rafal Blechacz is a former winner of the prestigious Chopin competition in
Warsaw. He is still a relatively young pianist - he won the Chopin competition
in 2005 when still only 20 - but he already exhibits extraordinary musical
maturity and a prodigious technique. Interestingly, all of the works on this
disc date from the first decade of the 20th century.
The programme notes talk about Blechacz having been influenced by Michelangeli’s
performances of Debussy although I am not aware of the great Italian maestro
having recorded the works on this disc - he is more noted for his interpretations
of Debussy’s preludes and images as well as the Children’s Corner
suite. Blechacz begins his recital with Pour le piano where Debussy
combines Classical forms, brilliant pianistic figurations, modern harmonies
and Javanese influences.
The opening prelude is played with a wide range of texture and colour and
the motoric elements are dispatched with stylish élan. In the sarabande Blechacz
continues to display extraordinary tonal control while the dynamics are beautifully
shaded and the phrasing perfectly shaped and crafted. The figurations in the
toccata are dispatched with flair and brilliance although Blechacz deploys
a velvet touch to avoid making the sound too percussive, no doubt mindful
of Debussy’s edict that the piano should sound like “an instrument without
hammers”.
In Pagodes (the opening piece of Estampes), Blechacz conjures
a wash of impressionistic colour from the piano while maintaining a wonderful
clarity of line and a richness of texture and sonority. The layering and textural
control in La soirée dans Grenade is exquisite and Blechacz is highly
responsive to the rhythmic subtlety of the piece and expressive changes in
tone colour. The toccata figurations in Jardins sous la pluie are
dispatched with rhythmic vitality and Blechacz uses his aural imagination
to elicit an iridescent range of colours and sound effects in a wonderful
piece of piano playing. L’isle joyeuse is played with real polish
and clarity with the virtuoso piano writing used not as an end in itself but
as a means to bring out musical effects, colours and textures. I am also a
huge fan of Michelangeli’s Debussy but I doubt if even he could play these
pieces any better than this.
I was not familiar with Szymanowski’s first piano sonata before listening
to this disc but I can well and truly say that I am now a convert to the work.
This performance could very well put the piece on the musical map. The opening
Allegro moderato is a powerful piece and, with its dark brooding
piano writing and chromatic harmonies, it sounds like a mix between Rachmaninov
and Scriabin. Blechacz plays the movement with real power and authority and
is well on top of the considerable technical demands. There is a wonderfully
crafted melodic line in the outer sections of the Adagio while the
central section is full of brooding passion and dark poetry. The music-box
minuet is played with immense tonal and textural control and the phrasing
is highly nuanced. The finale is an odd piece consisting of a grand introduction
followed by a three part fugue sprinkled with virtuoso piano writing. Blechacz
manages to make this disparate movement sound convincing and compelling and
the voicing of the fugue is very clear and precise.
This is an altogether brilliant recital from an outstanding young pianist.
Robert Beattie
An altogether brilliant recital from an outstanding young pianist.