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Piotr Anderszewski's Late Brahms · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  Bye. This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Consider taking out a paid subscription to this
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  podcast, and you can find the link to do so in
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  my episode description. And paid subscribers
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  get a free download at the start of each month,
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  and you're in for quite a treat if you decide
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  to take out a paid subscription. There's a recent
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  release from Warner Classics by the pianist Piotr
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  Andrzejewski devoted to late piano works of Johannes
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  Brahms. He picks and chooses works from the groups
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  of short pieces encompassing opus 116, opus 117,
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  opus 118, and opus 119. He doesn't play these
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  cycles complete, but rather he cherry -picks
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  and he puts pieces together. In a highly evocative
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  running order, this is kind of similar to what
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  Arkady Volodos did in his 2017 release devoted
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  to various selections from Brahms in his late
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  period piano pieces Klavierstück. Some collectors
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  may complain that Piotr Andrzejewski did not
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  give us complete opus numbers, which is often
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  the case on CD, where you have pianists who play
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  all of the opus 117 through 119, and they also
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  may include the opus 76, eight pieces. But if
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  you think about the great Brahms players of the
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  past, like Wilhelm Bachhaus or Arthur Rubinstein,
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  they didn't record complete sets of the late
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  pieces, and I don't think anyone complained about
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  that. back in the day. Even Glenn Gould recorded
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  works that just had the title intermezzo, and
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  I didn't hear anybody complain that he didn't
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  play all of opus 116 or 118 or whatever. But
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  let's talk about Piotr Andrzejewski. He is a
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  highly intelligent and cultivated musician, and
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  he puts a great deal of thought and consideration
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  into his program building. You remember he did
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  that beautifully curated selection of preludes
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  and fugues from Bach's well -tempered Clavier
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  Book II. I think that was back in 2020. A really
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  wonderful disc, which I will talk about on another
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  episode. But this Brahms disc... reveals a similar
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  kind of programming mindset. Piotr Andruszewski
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  begins with the B minor intermezzo, opus 119,
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  number 1, and this is one of Brahms' most introspective
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  and lament -like piano pieces. Andruszewski plays
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  this piece pretty much in a strict and measured
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  tempo, and he makes his expressive points through
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  careful voice leading and slightly leaning into
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  the dissonances. And when the main theme returns
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  at the end, the pianist ever so slightly lingers
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  on certain upbeats, putting a kind of hesitant
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  spin on the music. It's less desolate than it
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  was before, and this change in emphasis is quite
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  subtle. I think it's quite a beautiful performance.
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  The graceful C major intermezzo, Op. 119 No.
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  3, comes next. That was the one that Myra Hess
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  made famous as an encore, and it's quite a contrasting
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  character, needless to say. Although Andrzejewski
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  is attentive to detail. I prefer a little more
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  lightness to this music in terms of articulation
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  and a kind of offhanded lilt. In this sense,
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  I think that Stephen Hough better succeeds in
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  his recording, and there is also comparable lightness
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  in Rado Lubu's recording, although he's a bit
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  dry, comparatively speaking. The next piece,
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  opus 118, number one. This is a work I really
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  don't like, I think because I find the theme
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  sort of pompous. I don't know, there's something
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  about that theme that just rubs me the wrong
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  way. That's my problem, not Brom's problem. But
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  this performance is very convincing because every
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  phrase conveys independence. and the lines resolve
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  on their own volition so it seems the ebb and
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  flow of the performance is horizontally oriented
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  rather than in vertical blocks of phrases and
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  i think that really helps move things along opus
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  118 number two is next. That's the A major intermezzo,
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  and this is a piece that I absolutely adore.
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  I love it beyond belief. And again, Piotr Andrzejewski
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  takes his sweet time bringing the left hand just
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  enough to the forefront and using the most subtle
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  pedal effects. The performance is similar in
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  ways to Igor Levitt's recent recording in terms
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  of expression. But I think that Andrzejewski
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  is more specifically detailed. But I compared
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  him to Immanuel Axe out of curiosity. And in
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  this case, I felt that Immanuel Axe and his phrasing
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  had much more of a vocal trajectory and lyrical
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  warmth, very much in the Arthur Rubinstein manner.
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  Although I love the Andrzejewski performance
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  in and of itself, but it was just that back -to
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  -back comparison I couldn't help myself, and
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  the singing qualities of the Immanuel Lacks performance
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  really do hit home. And it's interesting that
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  Andrzejewski goes directly from this piece in
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  to the opus 116 number two because you have the
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  similar rhythm. This is the A minor intermezzo
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  because you have the A major and then the A minor
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  intermezzo is bum bum bum bum bum bum. So these
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  pieces dovetail quite nicely. Sometimes I feel
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  that Andrzejewski's little pauses at phrase ends.
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  can get predictable but i think he justifies
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  his approach by showing a real sense of long
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  lines and also the delicacy that he brings to
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  the middle section is just ravishing next we
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  have opus 116 number three usually you hear pianists
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  this in a very forthright manner, very directly
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  and very rhythmic. And that is understandable
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  because that's in the music's character. But
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  here, Piotr Andrzejewski again favors rhythmic
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  give and take. And he concentrates on how the
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  contrapuntal lines should move. So whatever you
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  lose in forward momentum, you gain tenfold in
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  horizontal clarity. The E major, opus 116, number
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  4, gets a lovely and kind of conversational performance
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  in how the right and left hand interact. I normally
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  prefer a little more push and more movement in
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  the central episode. And in this case, I think
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  Julius Ketchin really gets it right in terms
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  of the tempo. But this is a very beautiful performance
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  in and of itself. Now, opus 116, number five.
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  You know, you have those two -note phrases. bottom,
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  bottom, bottom. I don't quite remember the second,
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  and I'm singing it really horribly. But it's
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  difficult to make these two -note phrases sound
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  natural while at the same time observing Brahms'
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  articulations. And here, I think that under Shefsky's
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  attention to detail borders on being self -aware,
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  he sounds relatively studied, whereas If you
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  listen to the Wilhelm Kempf recording, his articulation
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  is a little more clipped. I don't know if he
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  accents the first note or the second note. Does
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  he go, or does he go, I listened to it preparing
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  for this talk, and now I forgot what he does.
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  I'm such an idiot today. But what I'm saying
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  is that Kempf conveys a simplicity and a sly
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  humor in what he does. But I think to bring this
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  piece off, you have to... play it a little more
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  simply than how Andrzejewski plays it. And there
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  is one pianist who I think really, really gets
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  it right. And she's a pianist who deserves wider
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  recognition, Elena Kushnerova. If you haven't
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  heard about her, check her out. Maybe you can
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  find her recording on YouTube or on a streaming.
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  platform and what i love is that she conveys
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  just the right character in those phrases without
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  working too hard or protesting too much as they
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  say Now we go to the opus 117 group of three
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  pieces, and Andrzejewski plays that mysterious
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  third piece in a very beautiful and fluid way.
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  Maybe Radolubu's more veiled kind of sonority
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  in the main theme conveys more of the music's
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  seeming ambiguity, but I'm splitting hairs. Andrzejewski
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  really does play this wonderfully well. His performance
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  of the Opus 119 No. 4, you know, the... You know,
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  that big, pompous, chord -based piece. It's not
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  totally pompous. I mean, you have to really be
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  careful with this music. Perhaps with Andrzejewski,
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  the fullness of the chords... is a little bit
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  understated for my taste. And here I prefer Rado
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  Lupo. And then you hear the intermezzo Opus 117
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  No. 2 in B -flat minor. Here I think Andrzejewski
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  creates a beautiful surface with Every line gorgeously
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  contoured. And none of the habitual rushing of
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  the fast notes that one often hears. You know,
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  sometimes you hear... And, you know, you want
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  a much more steady trajectory. Although I guess
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  the rushing is maybe a kind of tradition because
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  Rubinstein tended to do that. And even Immanuel
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  Axe does that a little bit. But I was curious
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  to do another comparison. So I listened to the
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  Andrzejewski recording. And then I pulled down
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  Walter Gieseking's recording that was originally
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  on Columbia Masterworks. And I was surprised
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  just how much freer and more poetic and inflected
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  the melodic lines were in Gieseking's hands.
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  And he is not a pianist who... I normally love
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  in Brahms, but if you do make the comparison
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  between Andrzejewski and Gieseking just in this
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  piece, it's rather revealing. Now the question
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  is, does Andrzejewski approach all of these late
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  Brahms piano pieces on more or less the same
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  expressive and emotional level? One might argue
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  that point, but His combination of high workmanship
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  and probing artistry really drew me in and made
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  me listen and brought me into this pianist's
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  sound world. And that's no small achievement.
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  And this disc, by the way, is beautifully engineered.
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  So even if you may wind up preferring other pianists
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  and certain pieces in the end, It's definitely
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  worth spending time with Piotr Andrzejewski's
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  Late Brahms. He obviously loves this music. He
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  obviously takes it seriously. But most importantly,
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  he has something to say. about this music that
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  should be heard. This is Jed Disler, and you've
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  been listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly
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  podcast guide to piano recordings. And I look
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  forward to being with you for our next episode.
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  Who knows what I'm going to talk about next time.