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All-Bach
program is subdued, a challenge
May 4, 2002
BY C.J. GIANAKARIS
SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
After
last Saturday's splashy two-concerto performance
in his introduction to the festival audience,
2002 Gilmore Artist Piotr Anderszewski gave his
official solo recital Friday night at Chenery
Auditorium before a house two-thirds full. He
confirmed his fine playing ability, though only
within a homogeneous range.
Anderszewski
chose to play a daunting program of all Bach,
daunting because the three works shared so much
in common in terms of musical strategies and technique.
As a result Anderszewski's task became all the
harder to differentiate among the almost two dozen
individual component pieces, and to give each
one a unique musical identity.
First
came Bach's "Preludes and Fugues from 'The Well-Tempered
Clavier,' Book 2." Anderszewski approached the
first prelude, in A major, BWV 888, with a gentle
touch, just sauntering and not rushing. In the
fugue section, brisk mordents and trills emerged
crystalline in manner. In the third prelude, in
B-flat Major, MWV 890, he displayed a charming
music box effect with pianissimos using the highest
keys of the keyboard.
By this
point, a pattern became evident in Anderszewski's
playing of Bach: Nearly everything was performed
in hazy, subdued fashion, as though heard through
a filter. Pianissimos -- often double pianissimos
-- became dominant, while fortes seemed banished.
In a concert of over two hours, such self-imposed
volume restrictions eventually limited him from
making needed distinctions between musical sections.
The uniformity of effect also became a challenge
to the audience.
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In a change
of program from that announced, Anderszewski next
performed Bach's "Partita No. 6, BWV 830." He
started out with fresh vigor, displaying sharp
mordents and other ornamentation that crackled.
Somehow, though, he soon faded back into an almost
steady pianissimo that stifled momentum in musical
line.
By the
concluding "Giga," Anderszewski assumed a liveliness,
building a clean, continuous musical line heading
toward a climax. The last section benefited impressively
from a series of penetrating notes struck marcato.
Through such means, Anderszewski roused his audience
with some excitement.
In the
rearranged version of the concert, Anderszewski
ended with Bach's "English Suite No. 6 in D minor,
BWV 811." Again, by performing everything in an
intimate, quiet manner, Anderszewski seemed to
play to and for himself, leaving little space
for listeners to enter the world of Bach he was
constructing. When we were allowed entrance, as
in the "Gavotte" and "Gigue" parts, the musical
rewards were abundant for the audience.
The excellence
of Anderszewski's art shone through Friday, even
in a deliberately subdued and studied mode.
© 2002
Kalamazoo. Used with permission
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