EIF music reviews: Piotr Anderszewski | NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra

Queen’s Hall

It’s the extraordinary detail in Piotr Anderszewski’s piano playing that makes every moment one to treasure. In this mesmerising Queen’s Hall programme, he invested that microscopic insight in two composer sets: a hefty first half that mined the riches of Brahms’ later opuses (Op 117 to 119); and a snappier second half that delivered the miniaturist experimentalism of Bartok. The outcome was an unquestionable revelation.

Familiar as the many Brahms Intermezzos were, Anderszewski had something fresh, something unflaggingly personal to say, whether that was to transport us to a world of hazy dreams, melting lyricism or playful effervescence. What mattered to him was the essence of each piece, each precious note calibrated to maximum emotional effect, amplified by their presentation as an uninterrupted sequence.

Strange to think that Bartok’s 14 Bagatelles were written just over a decade later, given their terse modernism. Played with such probing acuity, they offered a striking complement to the Brahms. Anderszewski’s playing was as compelling for its forensic delivery, as for its tenderness, textural virtuosity and sublime expressiveness. What could possibly follow that?

Recognising he couldn’t escape without an encore, the Polish pianist obliged with Chopin. Perfect.

Ken Walton

NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra ★★★★★

Usher Hall

In Alexander Sitkovetsky´s NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, string players of such discipline, quiet virtuosity and beauty all appear to breathe together. There is no swagger, no weaving body language, no flying hair, just an energy and emulsion which on Sunday evening had the audience lean forward, beckoned into something marvellous.

From their homeland, two works. Bacewicw´s orderly, academic Concerto for String Orchestra; Bacewicw, groundbreaking and courageous, was a violinist who studied with the stern mentor Carl Flesch - his mantras haunt performers to this day - thus her music is written with a keen understanding of texture. With Wojciech Kilar´s Orawa we set off on a clattering train trip ending with a grand arrival and a shout of hurrah.

A heartbroken Strauss wrote his Metamorphosen after Munich´s Hofheatre was devastated in 1943. His father had held the principal horn chair for 49 years. This performance offered all the restraint, quiet grief and respect of extreme emotion, the sense of expression teetering on breakdown. Its early theme, with four notes as though tapped by a frail finger before a faltering downward line grows, repeats until howling slowly into silence. We were stunned.

Clever, instinctive Schedrin´s arrangement of Bizet´s Carmen´s big tunes adds clinks and scrapes to a brilliant score. If opera set us on the high wire, the Strauss had shown us the end of the world.

Mary Miller