Saturday, May 8, 2010

Researching on-line I find not one single newspaper review of the two splendid, indeed life changing concerts I heard last weekend. It must be that the press is afraid of challenges, which is somewhat understandable in that I, too, had misgivings about two evenings in a row devoted to music by a composer I have never found palatable.

Yet it was a recognized master pianist performing.

A bit more probing revealed an interview with Anderszewski about how he got involved with Symanowski. It was a powerful aversion to the music that drew him in. Perhaps because, being half Polish, a sense of responsibility to the culture of his country compelled him to pursue this aversion to a point where the music came alive.

I have always been struck by the power of aversion which I first felt within a single work by Mozart -- all the more startling because of the intense love surrounding it.