Two Excellent Pianists - Hamelin & Kijanowska

For the past two evenings I have been privileged to hear two truly excellent pianists at work: Marc-Andre Hamelin and Anna Kijanowska.  Hamelin played a recital largely devoted to Franz Liszt at the 92nd Street Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall on Wednesday, March 28, and Anna Kijanowska collaborated with Iris Jortner, a cellist, and Sharon Roffman, a violinist, in "An Homage to Karol Szymanowski," marking the 125th anniversary of the composer's birth and exactly the 70th anniversary of his death (on March 29, 1937).

Hamelin's program was constructed with a subtle thematic link, which might be characterized by the first set of pieces he played, four selections from the "Songs Without Words" by Felix Mendelssohn.   Instrumental music is, by definition, music without words, but Mendelssohn titled his pieces to capture the peculiar sense in which they are really songs, not just abstract musical exercises.  That is, one can hear in them the essence of the lied, in terms of form and of a distinct melody line with accompaniment. 

After the opening Mendelssohn set, everything on the program involved Liszt in some way, and encapsulated the underlying theme of song without words.  First there was Liszt's Reminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor, a grand fantasy constructed out of the thematic material of arias from Donizetti's great opera - clearly, songs providing the impetus for Liszt's fancy.  Then, Liszt elaborations of two songs by Franz Schubert, Standchen and Ave Maria - no subtlety in the link there.  The first half concluded with Hexameron, a stunt piece if ever there was one, taking a tune by Bellini, subjecting it to variations by six prominent composers, with Liszt providing the framework of prologue, connective tissue and conclusion - the theme and variation form is an essential style of a song without words.

After intermission, it was all "original" list.  First, the three Petrarch Sonnets, an attempt to capture in music the essential feelings projected by the classic texts, so clearly songs without words.  And, finally, Venezia e Napoli, a small Italian-flavored suite published as a supplement to Annees de pelerinage, deuxieme annee, Italie, where we have pianistic elaborations of a gondolier's song, a "Canzone" (i.e., song), and finally, breaking at last from the concert's theme, a concluding tarantella - a dance, not a song! 

The theme was continued with the first encore - a Lullaby by Tchaikovsky, arranged for the left hand by Hamelin.  The last encore was not announced - rather, the pianist said he thought it didn't need to be announced, but from the puzzled looks and chatter on the way out, it did.  (Pianists may overestimate the public's familiarity with their repertory.)  I thought it was Debussy's Feux d'artifice, but was not totally sure.  (Piano repertory has not been my strong point, as I'm more of a symphony man.)

What can one say of Hamelin's playing that hasn't been said before?  The man is incredible.  I know his work almost entirely from recordings, and not having heard him play in concert very much, I was eager to hear whether his live performance would live up to the exalted technical standard from his studio work.  After all, no second takes here, no chance for patching or redoing rough sections....  And he did live up to that exalted standard.  His facility, range of dynamics, sensitivity were all exemplary.  And yet, I felt that perhaps he makes a stronger impact on a recording because you can't see him playing.  He seems so relaxed, so impassive at the keyboard that perhaps one mistakes the cue and doesn't hear the amount of passion and individuality that is contained in his playing.  This comes across on the recordings because you don't see the impassive artist before you.  And he should replace the publicity photo he's been using - it's so outdated that it doesn't look like him any more.  When he came out to play, I didn't recognize him - thought perhaps it was the manager of the hall to make an announcement!  He appears much more slim than his pictures, rather sharper featured....

To the Szymanowski.  Before intermission came the collaborations - the Violin Sonata, transcribed for cello, and the Myths for violin and piano.  After intermission we had Mazurkas.  Here the pianist made an interesting selection.  Instead of playing through the entire Op. 50 set, which she could have done in the time remaining, she chose to form little suites consisting of 1-4, 9-12, and 15-16 followed closely by Op. 62, No. 1.  This left her with mazurkas from which to select an encore.  (Although I was disappointed... I thought for a Szymanowski concert, the ideal encore would be the famous Etude, Op. 4, No. 3, which is to Szymanowski as the Prelude in C# Minor is to Rachmaninoff - an early "greatest hit," but one not well enough known to modern concert audiences.  (Why doesn't anybody play the orcheestral version..... a sure-fire hit!) 

Ms. Kijanowska, who recently got a great notice from the NY Times for her recording of the Szymanowski mazurkas, was absolutely splendid in the solo second half, the rock on which the collaborations depended in the first.   She makes a big sound -- perhaps too big for Merkin Concert Hall, where this concert took place -- but always under control, never harsh.  I would like to hear her in a larger hall where I think one would feel a wider range of dynamics to the low end.  (This is one factor in which Hamelin was extraordinary, even in the lively Kaufmann Concert Hall.)  Her command of the intricate rhythms that Szymanowski loved to write was superb.  Her collaborators were also quite fine, although I thought Ms. Roffman's harmonics in the section depicting Pan's flute were a bit dicey at times - this is excruciatingly difficult music to play under the pressure of live performance, and probably best heard on recordings where the violinist can have multiple takes and pick the best one.  Harmonics are really tricky....

Two evenings quite well spent, and now I'll have to search out Ms. Kijanowska's recording of the mazurkas and look forward to the newest Hamelin release on Hyperion.  (It is hard to pick out the best of his long list of recordings - the Medtner Sonatas?  the Alkan?  that incredible early jaunt through Alkan's solo arrangement of the first movement of Beethoven's Third Concerto?  the recent Brahms piano quartets?  Where to begin with this man?)

Comments

[Alan Masters]

Hamelin's latest is a very tempting and unexpected 2 disc set of Haydn sonatas ( a two for the price of one deal from Hyperion).And you were right about Feux d'artifice - I just checked the NY Times review.

[Art Leonard]

Yes, I saw the advert in the new Gramophone. It hasn't shown up in the retail stores in New York yet. I'm really looking forward to it. If anyone can make Haydn sonatas exciting, its Marc-Andre Hamelin.

[Dayle Vander Sande]

I would like to give my reaction to Arthur S. Leonard's review of the The Polish Cultural Institute's presentation of a concert of music by Karol Szymanowski with Anna Kijanowska, piano, Sharon Roffmann, violin and Iris Jortner, cello.

I agree that Anna's playing was powerful, incisive, forceful and sensitive at the same time. It was a great experience of personality singing through music, which to me is the most highly artistic and technical aspect of performance. Who impressed me beyond words was Sharon Roffman, violin, a protégége of Itzak Perlman. She performed with Ms. Kianowska Szymanowski's Mythes, Opus 30. Mr. Leonard seemed to have missed the point by focusing only on "dicey" harmonics in Ms. Roffman's playing. He uses adjectives such as "fine," and gives a caveat to the difficulty of performing harmonics, but he grossly neglected to mention that Ms. Roffman is in her early 20's, and that what was extraordinary was her command of the music, which a mature professional might have tremendous difficulty mastering. As I mentioned above, more than harmonics and any technical aspect of her playing, it should be mentioned that it was evident that she personalized these pieces to such a degree that we forget Szymanowski, we forget Roffman, and we receive such a profound interpretation of this work, that one was transcended to another plane of listening. She fulfilled, through intense introspection, along with the ensemble of Kijanowska's great playing, Szymanowski's goal in music making by his own admission, "to move" an audience. It is not enough to play only "beautifully" or be technically adept. I will take dicey harmonics any day if they communicate the humanity of a composition. And Ms. Roffman did just that, in my humble opinion.