In the documentary Unquiet Traveller, Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski commented that he preferred to perform recitals rather than concertos, saying the latter involved “too many artistic compromises”. Alone except for his Steinway at the Barbican, Anderszewski showed brilliantly that he is not a man of compromise.
Performing his usual suspects of Bach, Szymanowski, Webern and Beethoven, he exhibited total control over and feel for the programme. He has previously recorded almost all of these works, and visibly knows them like the backs of his – very competent – hands. Anderszewski is completely in the moment and alive to every nuance in each piece, creating an electrifying evening.
He gave Bach’s Partita in B minor a hefty emotional underbelly, with striking contrasts between the roaring fugues and the delicate concision of the air. Each note of the softer pieces was deliberate and precise, and the more grandiose moments came with real gusto – to compelling effect. So compelling, in fact, that my coffee went cold on my lap during the suite.
Karol Szymanowski is another favourite of Anderszewski’s, and he presented five of the Op. 50 Mazurkas, a collection influenced by the folk dances of the Tatras, with obscure rhythmic structures. These were, at times, tempestuous and thrilling, with an almost indulgent use of the damper pedal. At others, they were haunting and uneasy, the faint hints of the folk tunes only just peeking through a darker tone.
Anderszewski thundered through Webern’s Variations, Op.27, building a blockbuster sense of yearning and drama. Using that energy, he continued straight into Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 31 in A flat major, Op.110. In his hands, this took a fresh shape: the lightness of the opening piece was intensely charged, building to the startling declamations of the later movements. The development of the repeated aria-like was heartrending and masterful.
Anderszewksi was exhilarating to watch, with the electricity only tempered by his tendency to sing along with the music, and a distracting habit of conducting himself with his right hand when not playing. It’s a joy to see the enthusiasm, but these made it more difficult to concentrate.
As he returned to the stage to give us Hungarian Folk Songs and a bagatelle from Bartok, with Bach’s Prelude No.12 to the Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2, Anderszewski conclusively showed that he is a pianist with full mastery and originality – and that compromise is not for him.
