Immersion

Mark Jurkiewicz presented a string of Chopin works for the latest Wesley lunchtime concert and I was mulling over such depth of immersion in the topic and long term commitment.  Chopin gets a poor showing at times, given every young pianist has a go at his waltzes or other and thus they can present as trivial, but hear someone with training at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, playing from memory, with a program named also for George Sand, and with an obvious depth of musical knowledge in the program notes, and Chopin comes alive and his renown is immediately obvious.  Read the notes and learn of the Mazurka as three types of folk dance: the mazur, oberek and kujawiak.  The concert was entitled Chopin and George Sand: Love above all and the works date from the time of their relationship.  The works performed were Mazurkas op.33, as well as an impromptu, a ballade and a scherzo. There's more in the notes and much more in the performance and composition that becomes obvious in Mark's hands.  A concert to mull over for some time.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed works of Chopin at Wesley.

Reminiscent of improv

An impromptu is a classical piece that's "reminiscent of improvisation".   Today I heard four impromptus on piano.  It's probably not easy to think of an orchestra improvising, but I've described the piano as "an orchestra in a box" but that's probably because I'm a bassist and we play low and mostly single notes.  The multiple fingers and 8 octaves and 88 accessible keys on a piano seem like all and everything to me.  Perhaps guitarists would think differently: they only have 6 strings but they can form chords, play associated bass line and melodies, mostly at the same time.  Today was Mark Jurkiewicz playing four Schubert Impromptus.  The program put it best; I won't even try.   "The first Impromptu in C minor blends elements of sonata, variation, and through-composed structures.  The second impromptu in Eb major is a swift moto perpetuo with a ternary design.  The third impromptu is a flowing and meditative piece in Gb major, charaterized by long melodic lines and unbroken triadic accompaniments.  The fourth and final impromptu, in Ab major, starts in Ab minor and is characterized by cascading arpeggios and a chordal response."  Nicely put even if I prefer British spelling.  Suffice to say that Mark was trained at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw so is close to the sources of such music.  And played from memory with intense presence and interpretation.  Always so good to hear another concert from Mark.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Franz Schubert Four impromptus D.899 op.90 at Wesley.

Chopin as is or should be

I think of Chopin as I remember playing it, a very inarticulate student take.  It wasn't pretty.  But to hear Chopin played by someone committed to it, who studied at the Fryderyck Chopin Academy in Warsaw, no less, was instructive and awe-inspiring.  Suddenly I could understand and appreciate the fame of this busy composer.  The tunes were Chopin favourites, so well known, but the presentation was anything but mid-level AMEB.  Raindrop prelude, Nocturne Eb, Grand valse brillante Eb, Minute waltz, Waltz C#min, Fantasie impromptu, Heroic Polonaise Ab and an encore of Mazurka Amin to calm things down.  The tempos were gloriously variable as were the dynamics, so we got minute waltz relaxing into a gentle pace and huge handfulls of energy appearing throughout.  And that Mazurka which was much less known but apparently a common encore in Poland, to calm the audience for an ending.  But such a committed and informed performance that told of Poland and its history and peoples like I hadn't heard before.  Stunning and quite an eye-opener.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Chopin at Wesley.

One for Poland

This one was Mark Jurkiewicz, this time at Goodwin.  We learnt more of Mark's history, the partition of Poland and the political relevance of Chopin's waltzes and more.  Political relevance of a waltz?  It seems hard to conceive of, but these were different days, and to talk of Poland as a country was a death sentence and to play a Polonnaise in Paris was a political statement.  It's with this background and fifteen years in Poland and studies at the Fryderyk Chopin Academy in Warsaw that we place Mark and his performances.  So this has profundity and historical reference.  He played four mazurkas then two waltzes then a Tarantella and Andante Spaniato and Grande Waltz Brillante.  Then and encore of another waltz.  I had played these waltzes as a kid but nothing like this: intense, driven, fast and varied tempos, loud and dynamic, hugely practised and informed.  Mark has made me understand then love Chopin, and I can only say thanks for that.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) played Chopin at Goodwin.

The air of Poland

Yeah, it's stuff we know, Beethoven Moonlight and Chopin waltzes and nocturnes, and a very recognisable Liszt Nocturne as encore, but this was special.  Mark Jurkiewicz played the Wesley lunchtime concert and he's s graduate of the Chopin Academy in Warsaw and that background shows, I reckon.  Hugely dynamic, deeply expressive, technically overwhelming, just listen to the way the melodies change hands and how it's all so clear and evident.  Maybe it's the air, but more likely it's the education and, through it, the society it's embedded in.  I remember a story from Elena Katz-Chernin where she compared her training in Moscow to that in Sydney.  Chase it up: it's in CJ somewhere and it's a mind-blowing awareness raiser.  Maybe Chopin's Poland is similar.  Dunno, but this impressed me no end.  And not just the expression and the technique and the rest, but all done from memory.  It's a special awareness and closeness that allows this.  So I can just say how much I was impressed and pleasured by this music, rough sometimes amongst some mighty screeds of notes (especially Moonlight mvt.3) but always telling the story, clear in purpose, huge in dynamics and that expression, always that flow and thrust to tell.  Just fabulous.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) played Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt at Wesley Music Centre.

One (or four) to remember

The Schubert impromptus are renowned but I didn't really know them.  Mark Jurkiewicz played the first four (apparently there are eight) them from memory on Wednesday at Wesley.  It was an impressive performance.  He's been entranced by them since first hearing them so I guess they are central to his musical life.  Certainly, they sounded well imbibed and much loved.  They are not really movements, so the audience clapping is maybe to be expected, but it obviously wasn't something Mark expected; he stood and bowed but the breaks were short.  This was a solid performance, a stolid application, an impressive memory and an honest interpretation with real history.  Hugely impressive all round.  Hope to hear the other four next year.

Mark Jurkiewicz (piano) performed Schubert Four impromptus D.935 op.142 at Wesley.