Piotr Anderszewski / 40 years of Sinfonia Varsovia

Piano or harpsichord – or perhaps clavichord?... This dilemma around the universal word “Klavier” referred to the time of, for example, Bach once aroused lively discussions, today it is considered settled and encased in a detailed literature. But the era of Haydn? Here it is more difficult to reach conclusions. Most of his keyboard works (but also many of Mozart’s, and even still some of Beethoven’s works, all the way up to Op. 27!) on the title pages of editions customarily had the note “pour le clavecin ou piano-forte” (for harpsichord or piano). This may indicate the publishers’ intention not to narrow down the audience, many of whom still had expensive harpsichords in their homes and did not hesitate to use them. In early editions of the keyboard Concerto in D Major, Hob. XVIII:11 (before 1784), the last and most popular of Haydn’s dozen or so original works in this genre, one also encounters the aforementioned scoring note, but also the (spare) dynamic markings forte/piano, which, by the way, do not determine anything in this regard – occasionally the louder and quieter registers of the harpsichord were indicated in this way. It can be assumed that the composer’s employer, the musical Prince Miklós Esterházy, had various instruments in his residence, and that the serene concerto with its model-classical structure resounded in its chambers (and later throughout Europe thanks to many printed editions) in various versions. In a nod to the family of Hungarian aristocrats, the finale is the Rondo all’ungarese, one of the earlier examples of stylization in which Hungarianness was associated with energetic and “fiery” music, in even meter, often with modal extravagances. Reference was made here to Gypsy music rather than to proper Hungarian music (it is known that the Duke of Miklós was fond of employing Roma bands), and Haydn’s allusions to it – included, for example, in the Piano Trio in G Major, Hob. XV:25, or the Quartet in D Major, Hob. III:34 – prominently popularized this idiom, which was imitated many times later.

Mozart’s Symphony in D Major, K.385, known as the Haffner Symphony, is an interesting example of the relationship between early symphonics and the serenade/divertimento type, that is, “background” music intended to accompany various events. Haydn strove, and Mozart undertook this endeavor (while Beethoven dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s here) to increasingly emancipate and ennoble the symphony as a genre, so that in time it became a vehicle for the most important compositional ideas. The Mozart family was united by friendship with the patrician family of Salzburg, whose prominent representative, Sigmund Haffner, was the mayor of that city, eagerly supporting the young Wolfgang’s travels. After Haffner senior’s death, his son, also Sigmund, commissioned the Serenade in D major K.248b from the twenty-year-old Mozart in 1776 for his sister’s wedding. The work’s success prompted the Haffners to commission another work – this time a serenade to accompany the ceremony of Sigmund junior’s admission to the nobility. By 1782, a busy Mozart was already living in Vienna, intensively searching for a position and occupation there, but he complied with a friend’s request by creating a new serenade with two minuets, and preceded by a march. Planning a benefit concert at the Burgtheater in March 1783, he decided to rework the piece as a symphony, eliminating the march (K.385a) and one of the minuets and enlarging the wind section. The first movement of the work impresses with its monumental grandeur, reminiscent of operatic overtures, foreshadowing the lively action of theatrical dramas. A soothing, rococo graceful andante brings respite, and the energy returns in a minuet bowing to the legacy of the much-loved Haydn, only to truly explode in the sparklingly humorous finale. The final movement clearly reveals that Mozart was still bursting with ideas from the pages of the recently completed Die Entführung.

The first variants of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C Major were perhaps still being written in his youthful years in Bonn. It is possible that the composer (who began his career mainly as an admired virtuoso pianist) performed it during one of his first performances in Vienna in 1795, or perhaps as late as his trip to Prague in 1798. It was published in 1801 (with a dedication to his pupil, the young Duchess Anna Louise Odescalchi) as the first of five – Op. 15 – although chronologically it was later than the Concerto in B-flat Major, Op. 19, and was preceded by an even earlier youthful concerto created in Bonn. This work reveals (although to a lesser degree than the aforementioned Op. 19) its dissimilarity to, for example, the piano trios or sonatas he composed at a similar time. There, the recognizable Beethovenian idiom is clearer – while here it still seems to hide behind the musical convention typical of a showpiece. The work also contains innovative elements, such as the fact that the second theme of the opening allegro is in mediant key of E-flat major, which would become the rule in Beethoven’s future. The pathos and power of the “military” motifs of the first movement also reach beyond convention – echoes of the fascination with heroic French music that would soon return more strongly in the Third. The predilection for tonal tertial rather than dominant affinities is also evident in the choice of the key of A flat major for the full elegance and captivating lyricism of the second movement. A strong contrast to this movement is brought by the danceable final rondo, full of – in places even plebeian-bawdy – humor.

Piotr Maculewicz

Piotr Anderszewski is regarded as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation and appears regularly in all of the world’s major concert halls. His collaborations with orchestra have included appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic, the London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, which he also conducted from the piano. Recitals have taken him to the Barbican Center in London and the Royal Festival Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Carnegie Hall and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

His recordings include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, which received the Choc du Monde de la Musique; the Grammy nominated Bach Partitas 1, 3 and 6 as well as a recording with works by his countryman Szymanowski. His album with solo works by Schumann received two BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2012, including the Recording of the Year. His recording of Bach’s English Suites 1, 3 and 5 received the Gramophone Award for best instrumental album in 2015.

After the solo album „Fantaisies“ with works by Mozart and Schumann in February 2017, the Mozart Piano Concertos No. 25 & 27 with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was recorded in January 2018. Then in 2021, his interpretation of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2 was awarded the Gramophone Classical Music Award.

Recognised for the intensity and originality of his interpretations, Piotr Anderszewski has been a recipient of several high-profile awards over the course of his career, including the prestigious Gilmore Award, which is presented every four years to a pianist of exceptional talent.

The director Bruno Monsaingeon shot two award-winning documentaries about him for ARTE.

The first, from 2001, sheds light on Anderszewski’s special relationship to the Diabelli Variations, while the second, “Piotr Anderszewski, Traveler Without Rest” (2008) is an artist portrait and reflects Anderszewski’s thoughts on music, concert activities and his PolishHungarian roots. A third documentary by Monsaingeon, “Anderszewski plays Schumann” was shot for Polish television in 2010.

In the 2023/24 season, Piotr Anderszewski will present his new recital program among others in Warsaw, Cologne, Hamburg, London, Berlin, Prague, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Geneva, Lisbon, Paris, Tokyo and at the Gilmore festival in Kalamazoo. He is also looking forward to concerts with, among others, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, as well as playlead projects with the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Israel Camerata, with whom he will tour.

2023/24