Why did this music sit for seven years in Warner’s can?
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
Few pianists have given me greater pleasure over the years than the Polish-Hungarian lone wolf Piotr Anderszewski. As a keyboard cub, he made his name 33 years ago by walking off-stage in the Leeds Competition semi-finals because he felt he was not playing well enough. Ever since, he has flown a flag of integrity and discretion, regardless of the demands of a public career. His Wiki entry is a decade out of date.
So I was disappointed to find this record decorated with a short statement of dubious accuracy…
Read on here.
En francais ici.
In Czech here.
For the Janáček, I’d recommend a 2019 CD from Jan Bartoš. The Overgrown Path pieces (12 of the 15) are exquisite and chilling:
https://www.supraphon.com/album/467827-janacek-piano-works
Vastly overrated artist. His vacuous Diabelli Variations were a dead giveaway.
How wonderful of you, Mr Lebrecht to point your finger on this secret, rare, so sensitive pianist, Piotr Anderszewski!
Heard him by hasard in a live broadcast on Radio della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), a 20 years ago, playing the “Diabelli’s Variations” and immediately thinking: how splendid! This must be Wilhelm Kempff or Backhaus!
I then attended many concerts of him, always rare moments of infinite, deep Music.
Remember with emotion some Bach, some Schumann, where music seemed like suspended in the air…
(Having listened to his rendition live of the Janáček must say I disagree with you. Sublime.)
I attended a concert at Cologne last year where the Mazurkas and the Bagatelles, plus two Bach partitas, were played to a silence when you could hear the proverbial pin fall. I have never experienced such silence as during the Bagatelles.