Tuesday 21 November 2.00 pm

  

It was the minutes of silence at the end of this momentous journey that said it all.A quite remarkable performance because Milosz did nothing and in so doing allowed Bach’s wondrous work to speak for itself Keeping the tempo constant like a great wave on which these monumental variations could float with authority and purity.

This is Bach’s Monument written in stone.This was the authority of Rosalyn Tureck who was known as the High Priestess of Bach.There are others that play it with the song and the dance in mind like Tatyana Nikolaeva or Angela Hewitt. The wonder of Bach’s Universal Genius is that it can be played in so many different ways and on so many different instruments but the message is always the same.Bach the glorification of the spirit.

There was poignant purity to the long slow 25th variation and Milosz did not fall into the rather conventional habit of adding ornaments but just let the music speak for itself .With the possibility of the piano to sustain notes it makes the performing practices of the harpsichord superfluous.It was the chiselled perfection of Milosz that was like Tureck so extraordinary.Tureck had more variation of sounds as her sense of touch was quite unique and even a speck of dust on the keys could unbalance her. Often she would come on stage and see the lid of the keyboard had been left open and with a smile would take out her handkerchief to clear away any specks of dust that might have appeared while she had been in the green room.

The only evident sense of personal participation from Milosz was actually at the end of this 25th variation when the final notes he played with a pointed finger that gave a just weight to each of the final notes.There was a wonderful rhythmic control to the 29th where so often ( even with Tureck) the virtuoso notes can be like a cat and mouse chasing each others up and down the keyboard .The Quodlibet was played with weight and seriousness that belied the actual words that Bach had set to music:’I have not been with you for so long’ and ‘Cabbages and turnips have driven me away’! The long wait before the return of the aria was beautifully judged by Milosz – it was here that André Tchaikowsky used to hold the final G of the Quodlibet and magically float the aria on it as if suspended in space.

A remarkable performance from this young musician not surprisingly from the class of Norma Fischer I am pleased to note.

I had heard Rosalyn Tureck play the Goldberg Variations in London in the RFH at 6.45 on the harpsichord and at 9 on the piano.I had never forgotten it when I invited her to play in Rome and she decided that she would come out of her enforced retirement to once more take centre stage in her Indian Summer .She became the diva of Italy at the age of 80!I had also invited Tatyana Nikolaeva to play the Goldbergs a month later and got greatly criticised for not varying the programmes in my Euromusica Concert Series.Now the programmes that I promoted are looked at in disbelief that all those great musicians could play in the same hall in the same season .

Milosz Sroczynski is a Polish pianist based in Zurich, Switzerland. He completed his education in Hannover, Geneva with Cédric Pescia, Zurich with Konstantin Scherbakov and Christoph Berner, and London, where he obtained the Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music, as a scholar and student of a legendary British pianist and distinguished teacher Prof. Norma Fisher. Additionally he has worked with Janina Fialkowska, Pierre-Laurent Aimard to name a few. Milosz performed giving solo and chamber music recitals in Switzerland and in many European countries – in Germany, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, UK, Italy, France, Spain. His performances had been broadcasted live on Polish Radio where he also made archival recordings. He frequently appeared performing a high-demanding Goldberg Variations by J.S.Bach across Europe in London, Berlin, Hamburg, Gothenburg, Zurich and Warsaw. He is a versatile pianist with a wide-ranging classical repertoire, encompassing Bach, the Viennese Classics, German Romanticism, and Chopin, as well as the works of French modernists. With an enthusiastic embrace of contemporary pieces, he creates interesting crossover concert programs that seamlessly blend classical and modern compositions, captivating audiences with his innovative and dynamic performances. Milosz is a prizewinner of several piano competitions and was awarded prestigious Swiss, Polish, British and Israeli scholarships. He teaches at the Conservatory of Zurich.

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