Chopin once wrote: When I am not feeling well I play the piano made by Erard and I can easily find the ready-made sound. But when I feel fit and strong to search for my own sound, I need a Pleyel. Tonight it was Erard that our attention was focused on. The instrument is from The Fryderyk Chopin Institute collection and was built in 1849. Three pianists performed today therefore we had the opportunity to confirm once more that Chopin was right. The instrument sounded in a varied way each time another pianist approached it, but at the same time its tone quality was remaining more or less the same. It was the tone capable of dealing with the mass of sound of orchestra. Today we do not regard it extraordinary when piano performs with orchestra, but as late as 1826 someone wrote that the piano cannot perform well in salon (i.e. concert hall), amongst the crowd of other instruments…
Despite that, the Three Pianists were able to produce a whole variety of tone colours, from flat tone in Fantasy on Polish Airs Op. 13 (Goerner), through the brilliancy of Concerto in E minor (Kenner) and heavenly pianissimo of Olejniczak (it was undoubtedly during such a moment when it came to marquis de Custine that Chopin did not play piano, that he played soul), to the power of sound in Grande Polonaise Op. 22 (Goerner again).
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The music by Chopin: is this an ancient music already or not just yet? This question remains unanswered, however the experience of today’s evening was most valuable one. Not because period instruments provide us with the authentic sound, not because of the performance practice issues, as performers, all of them and all of the time seek for truth and authenticity during every performance. No, it was because of new elements uncovered by Orchestra of 18th Century under the baton of Frans Brüggen. The Orchestra’s sound is lighter than that of the modern philharmonic orchestras. The wind instruments are much more distinct than it is today. The ‘cellos are more clear-cut and telling, the articulation in this group is sharper. From the other hand, we have lost bassoon, we were missing beautiful dialogues in Concerto in F minor. In short, we heard in the orchestral part many beautiful details that are rarely audible if performed by the modern ensemble.
Brüggen confessed in radio interview that he thinks Chopin was not a good composer. It is interesting that this statement is not confirmed in Maestro’s own performances. The reservation of Brüggen did not affect the performance.
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Kevin Kenner, who won Chopin’s International Piano competition in Warsaw in 1990, had proven once more that the Jury’s decision of not awarding the first prize to him was deeply wrong one. At the time the explanation was that he was not good enough at Chopin and that he was not a great enough pianist. The time had proven otherwise, Kenner is a great pianist with ability, an artist without mannerism, who understands Chopin’s music. His performance of Concerto in E minor was full of spirit and sophistication and poetic inspiration.
The Erard sounded in a most interesting way under the fingers of Janusz Olejniczak. It was both timbre and dynamic. This was not a piano; it was a soul, and what a soul that was! – to quote respectable marquis once more. Olejniczak gave a dense and well-balanced performance and his mazurka in the Finale was probably the best one so far. The artist offered two encores, again Mazurkas that were played with that note bleue and some very interesting details in articulation.
The rarely played works for piano and orchestra by Chopin were all performed by Nelson Goerner. Rarely performed – but why? Under the fingers of Goerner those works clearly belong to our literature. The Fantasy was less convincing today, maybe because of difficult form that adds chains of variations on themes of old songs that no one sings today. It is a form that Goerner seemingly does not like very much, as Variations in B major were as well divided into separate episodes. In detail, the pianist gave a nice performance of those works, but there was lack of the whole picture, of the form, of the back bone that would keep all things together. The highlight of Goerner’s performance tonight was Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise in E flat major Op. 22. The introduction build up the mood before the dance entered onto stage. In Polonaise Chopin tries for the first time to break up with traditional form of the dance. It seems that the works sounds more heroic with orchestra and remains a salon work in solo version.
A single encore Goerner offered was a true gem of the night. It was Nocturne Op. 48 nr 1. Unforgettable.
Krzysztof Komarnicki
