Search - Rafal Blechacz :: Sonatas: Haydn, Mozart & Beethoven

Exemplary classical style combined with real temeprament --

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Now only 23, Rafal Blechacz emerged from the pack of young hopefuls with a commanding win at the 2005 International Chopin competitin, the same that launched the young Pollini and Argerich. To jump from there to a contract with DG implies that equally great things are expected of the young Polish pianist. To jduge by this follow-up to an acclaimed Chopin Preludes recital last year, Blechacz (pronounced BLEH - kosh) is a major talent. As enthusiastic as I've been about two of his older contemporaries, Paul Lewis and Jonathan Biss, I hear more technique, temperament, and musical fire in him.



The program combines late Haydn, early Beethoven, and middling Mozart, making no concessions to showmanship -- serious listeners of classical sonatas are the intended target. But in the very modesty of the technical demands being made, there's a world of stylistic challenges. Blechacz passes them all. His feeling for each composer is totally assured. He makes telling adjsutments in touch and timbre to signal that Beethoven isn't Haydn, even though Op. 2 No. 2 was written close to H. XVI NO. 52.



As far as his stylistic bent goes, Blechacz keeps the scale modest in all three works. HIs light, sparkling touch reminds me of Wilhelm Kempff; so does his blend of improvisation with correctness. It's rare for a latter-day pianist to succeed sheerly on taste and touch, but that's what Blechacz does here, very winningly."

A young artist still in the making

Abel | Hong Kong | 05/22/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The performances of Blechacz here reminds me predominantly of the young Andras Schiff. I emphasize the word `young', because Schiff has since matured much since the days of his earlier recordings, especially after the publishing of his illustrious Beethoven Sonatas Cycle.

To rank Blechacz with the likes of Brendel, Schiff, Pollini would be far too unrealistic at this stage, however fine a young pianist his is, let alone Wihlem Kempff or Friedrich Gulda in these repertoire. And I would have no hesitation in pointing out that even at the same age as Blechacz here, Gulda evinced a maturity in interpretive powers and technical prowess that surpassed Blechacz in these Viennese composers' major works. Granted, may not be so in Chopin for Gulda.

Rafal undoubtedly is very well grounded in the basics. As he approaches his mid-twenties, however, he would have to prove that he is not a perfect senior piano student but a highly original as well as creative player in the field."