Sunday 25 June 3.00 pm 

Wonderful tribute to a dear friend of so many aspiring young artists.
The two Wiercinski ‘boys’ coming together to play a Dvorak Slavonic dance together with such ‘joie de vivre’ and astonishing finesse.
This was after masterly performances of Beethoven,Bach and Chopin.
Andrzej Wierciński who I had heard recently in Ischia play the same pieces but today there was even more magic in the air.

A Bach that had such authority from the seemless clarity and nobility of the Prelude to the beauty of the Fugue.Shaping the awkward fugue subject with a fantasy and sense of colour without ever disturbing the french overture but illuminating it with sublime beauty.

The Chopin Mazukas too were played with an overpowering authority and ravishing beauty as well as a freedom and sense of dance that are of the manner born.

Beethoven’s penultimate sonata was given a memorable performance in which all of Andrzej great artistry was given a freedom within the confines of what Beethoven so minutely describes in the score .The passionate outburst of the final pages was of overpowering conviction of a man who had indeed a vision of Paradise.

Kyzysztof complimenting his brother with longer spindly fingers capable of creating startling clarity.A musicality that had him searching for hidden colours which was immediately evident in the beauty of Chopin’s B major nocturne op 62 n.1 .There was a luminosity and fluidity of sound to which he added a freedom as he dug deep into the core of the harmonies to seek out its inner secrets.

The Second Ballade was played with a beautiful simplicity and flowing melodic line.There was such delicacy too due to his very sensitive sense of balance.His big hands made easy work of the tempestuous interruptions but always shaped them with the musicianship that obviously runs in their remarkable family.Again seeking out some secret inner colours but never forsaking the overall architectural shape.On the wave of the final great flourish was a heartrending final uttering that only the genius of Chopin could have penned and was beautifully played with a quiet mysterious whisper.

Beethoven’s early Sonata op 26 ,with its third movement Funeral March was beautifully and very clearly played .The mellifluous theme was followed by variations of great character.The almost too pompous second with its alternating hands was followed by the deep brooding of the third.Only to be interrupted by the scherzando bagatelle of the fourth followed by the beautiful pastoral fluidity of the fifth.
There was a contrastingly rhythmic Scherzo with the beautifully shaped trio with its inner voicing.The Funeral March was played with quiet intensity and superb rhythmic control.The final Allegro Rondo was bubbling over with ‘joie de vivre ‘ with a rhythmic energy and bite leading to the surprise ending.

Chopin’s Scherzo in B flat minor was played with astonishing technical freedom with clarity and driving energy .Even in the beautiful cantabile there was a forward movement with some very subtle shaping of great beauty and poignancy.There was freedom to the contrasting central episode with its insinuating mazurka like outpourings.Here again were some beautiful colours from the voicing of the thumb which gave great depth to the melodic line.But it was the astonishing technical brilliance and passion that he brought to Chopin’s scintillating outpouring of notes that was breathtaking and the final pages were played with overwhelming excitement and exhilarating virtuosity.

The Dvorak Slavonic Dance played together as an encore was a wonderful treat to see these two young brothers united with such accomplishment and obvious enjoyment and to see Dr Mather struggling to turn the pages of the two separate scores simultaneously.
Geoff would have loved it and it was a wonderful tribute to a great friend of so many talented young musicians.And above all a close and loyal friend to all of us Friends of St.Mary’s who will dearly miss him.

Andrzej Wiercinski was born in Warsaw in 1995 and graduated with distinction from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice (2014-2019) and in 2020 received a postgraduate diploma from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. From September 2023 he will be pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London, with Professor Norma Fisher. Andrzej has won 1 st Prize in numerous piano competitions, including: Saint-Priest International Piano Competition (2019); First International Music Competition in Vienna (2019); Masters Neapolitan Piano Competition (Naples, 2018); International Chopin Competition “Golden Ring” in Slovenia (2014); International Chopin Competition in Budapest (2014); and the Polish National Chopin Competition (2015). He was a semi-finalist in the 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw (2021), He is the recipient of several international Scholarships.In recent years he has given recitals in most European countries as well as in Canada, Indonesia and Japan. This year he performed Chopin’s F-minor Piano Concerto in Darmstadt with the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck Orchestra and in 2022 Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in the Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall with the Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra. Andrzej released his first CD in 2015, playing solo piano works by Scarlatti, Schumann and Chopin. 

Krzysztof Wiercinski was born in 2003 in Warsaw. He began his musical education at the age of 7 and now studies at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, also benefiting from masterclasses with several eminent artists and pedagogues. Entering his first piano competition at the age of 8, Krzysztof has won many prestigious awards at national and international competitions since. His First Prizes include at: the First International Chopin Competition in Turzno (with special award of a concert at Carnegie Hall, 2019); the 19th Juliusz Zarebski International Music Competition in Warsaw (2019); the Fifth International Chopin Competition in Rzeszów (2019); the International Music Competition in Moscow (2020); the 6th International Online Piano Competition in Trzciana (2020); the International Piano Competition Maurycy Moszkowski in Kielce (2021, with special prize for the best performance of a concerto); and at the International Music Competition “ISCART” in Lugano, Switzerland (2021). He has performed concerts in numerous cities throughout Poland (including at the National Philharmonic and the Royal Castle in Warsaw and at Chopin’s birthplace at Zelazowa Wola) as well as in Switzerland, Estonia, Lithuania and Austria. In March 2022, he gave 21 Chopin recitals in 7 days at the Polish pavilion at EXPO 2020 in Dubai, being also the youngest of the Polish pianists to play there. His recital at St Mary’s Perivale is his UK debut. 

This concert is dedicated to the memory of GEOFF COX (1941 – 2023) who promoted the careers of many of our finest pianists and was an enthusiastic attender of recitals at St Mary’s Perivale and many other venues. He was dedicated to promoting the careers and welfare of young musicians, and he will be sadly missed by his many friends. We send our deepest condolences to his family.

Anna Tsybuleva writes “Thank you for sending this to me! He was such a good man!! I still can’t believe he is not here’. https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/10/11/anna-tsybuleva-mastery-at-st-marys-2/

Andrzej Wiercinski at La Mortella Ischia The William Walton Foundation – Refined artistry and musical intelligence in Paradise

Krzysztof Wiercinski in Warsaw the remarkable Wiercinski brothers.