The birth of a great artist yesterday at the POSK theatre in Ravenscourt Park,London.

A young pianist of exceptional talent where the more talented you are the more you are disturbed by the impossible task of seeking perfection.

Andrzej Wiercinski I have been listening to for some years ever since his first appearances over ten years ago in that Mecca for all aspiring young musicians. St Mary’s Perivale is where Dr Mather and his team offer a concert and recording to artists that have dedicated their youth to art and just need an audience to continue their voyage of discovery with.

I even took him to play at La Mortella – Andrzej Wiercinski at La Mortella Ischia The William Walton Foundation – Refined artistry and musical intelligence in Paradise
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/05/11/andrzej-wiercinski-at-la-mortella-ischia-the-william-walton-foundation-refined-artistry-and-musical-intelligence-in-paradise/

But today I heard a pianist who was at one with the music with performances of great personality but totally at the service of the composer.

His Kreisleriana seemed as an improvisation such was his extraordinary palette of sounds allied to a scrupulous attention to the score. A fleetingly chameleonic change of character from the passionate opening to the sublime intimate flights of fantasy. A breathtaking performance where he had us sitting on the edge of our seats in anticipation of the secrets that this Poet of the piano would reveal in what is quite the greatest interpretation I have ever heard.

It is a work in eight episodes that is not easy to shape into one unified whole. Andrzej found the key in the sumptuous bass sounds that was the common denominator that pervaded the entire work. A bass that could allow for the piano to open up its sonorities and create sounds of full richness and passionate intensity as it could allow for the most exquisite sounds of barely murmured sentiments. The opening was a hurricane of passion where the intricate weaving strands in the right hand of quite considerable virtuosity were sustained by the rich full bass and masterly use of the pedal.The central episode was allowed to ride on this sumptuous rich wave of sound without having to slow down as it grew out of what came before and was to come after.Ravishing playing of such subtle shaping and delicacy before the hurricane regained its energy with even more passionate energy. There was extraordinary beauty to the legato of the second episode with the deep bass melody just hinted at as was the melodic line in the right hand all incorporated into this one long outpouring of song. Interrupted by the first Intermezzo that was played with clockwork precision and drive and contrasted so well with the continual wave of song that was forever present.The second Intermezzo was remarkable for its sense of line, and the prominence given to the bass in the final few bars was indeed a master stroke. It was the clarity of line and sumptuous sounds bathed in pedal that made the central part of the third episode quite memorable, with one melodic strand overlapping the other in a duet of sumptuous beauty. Again it contrasted with the spiky rhythmic drive of the outer episodes.The coda ‘Noch schneller’ was breathtaking for it’s animal excitement and enormous sonorities that were never hard but always with a sense of line and overall shape. A tour de force of control of sound quite apart from the extraordinary precision and finger dexterity. There was a simplicity to the disarming ‘sehr langsam’ of the fourth episode played with poignant intensity, the tension released with the gentle song of the ‘Bewegter’. Within all the capricious rhythmic elements of the fifth episode, Andrzej managed to find the musical line that in turn was linked with the mellifluous central episode, where even here one seemed to grow so naturally out of the other. A wonderfully passionate outpouring to this central episode that was a true explosion of romantic fervour. A whispered beauty to the melodic line in the sixth episode where out of nothing there seemed to be born new life, in one of those magic moments that only the poet Schumann could envisage.The ‘sehr rash’ of the seventh was played with a brilliance and animal fervour that was overwhelming in its dynamic drive and digital perfection. Even in these transcendentally difficult passages Andrzej could steer us through a maze of notes giving them an architectural, expressive shape and meaning. Wonderful to hear the non legato chords in the coda that suddenly become legato as they come to rest on a cloud of beauty.The last episode is probably the most difficult to hold together and it was here that Andrzej showed a complete understanding of Schumann’s chameleonic change of character. There was the beautiful bass melody allowed to flow so gracefully in the first episode and the wondrous use of the pedal and the deep bass notes in the second that allowed a build up of sonority without any hardness or exaggeration. The gently rhythmic outer episodes were sustained by deep bass notes as the work finished with whispered notes deep in the bottom of the keyboard.

https://videopress.com/v/bCyDl0eL?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

The young talented teenager now on the edge of thirty has become a very great artist.

Chosen to present the newly acquired manuscript of Chopin’s Fourth Ballade for the Polish Institute in Warsaw, he changed the announced programme of the third Ballade to the fourth.

A press conference was held to present the manuscript of the Ballade in F minor, Op. 52, composed in 1842. My participation was the presentation of the national version and the version from the manuscript so as to highlight the differences. Such a wonderful experience. You can watch the entire conference at the link below.: https://www.youtube.com/live/QHk1LbWTYWE?si=ad_uKXvFSJVjxBER

But it was the opening Nocturnes op 55 and the Mazukas op 50 that immediately revealed his great artistry. A freedom that had in its midst a burning energy that carried him on a wave of sound where the music just seemed to pour out of him.

https://videopress.com/v/ZuWYvL1v?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

Of course the B minor Sonata and the F minor Ballade showed his architectural understanding not only of the structure but what true Bel Canto can mean.

https://videopress.com/v/E97UVCYg?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1

Hats off to Norma Fisher, and Roger Nellist of Perivale, who have been monitoring and helping him in these past few years where his seemingly unattainable vision was so close but yet so far.

‘Je sens, je joue, je trasmet’ was used to describe Cherkassky many years ago and with Andrzej today has never been more actual

Andrzej Wiercinski in Ruislip A great artist free to conquer the world
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/06/26/andrzej-wiercinski-in-ruislip-a-great-artist-free-to-conquer-the-world/

Andrzej Wiercinski at St Mary’s Perivale Beauty and style combine with aristocratic poise and poetry
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2024/09/08/andrzej-wiercinski-at-st-marys-perivale-beauty-and-style-combine-with-aristocratic-poise-and-poetry/

Cox – A celebration The Wiercinski brothers amaze delight and rejoice
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2023/06/21/geoff-cox-a-celebration-the-wiercinski-brothers-amaze-delight-and-rejoice/