Ignacy Jan Paderewski - Piano Sonata; Variations & Fugues (Jonathan Plowright)

Information

Composer: Ignacy Jan Paderewski

• Piano Sonata in E flat minor, Op. 21
• Variations & Fugue in A minor, Op. 11
• Variations & Fugue in E flat minor, Op. 23

Jonathan Plowright, piano

Date: 2006

Label: Hyperion

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Review

No one has thought to programme these three works together before. It seems so logical but it’s taken Hyperion and Plowright to show us how it can be done. And there’s no doubt that these are commanding, triumphant and ultra-virtuosic performances of lasting value. Plowright has shown his credentials in such works before and he reprises his ironclad technique once again. If one counters my opening sentence with a cursory “Well the early A minor variations are not so hot” then lend an exploratory ear to Plowright’s performance. He can’t convert the Variations to the status of a masterpiece, nor anyway near it, but he brings swagger, wit and charm in equal measure. In fact the whole programme is well thought out and executed with tremendous brio and panache.

 

But let’s start with the 1903 Sonata. Here Plowright is powerfully and expressively passionate. The hints of Liszt, of early Rachmaninoff, maybe even Reger give the curious a hint of what’s on offer in this teeming and big work. It may sound a mite undigested as to influences but the overriding impression is of sweep, grandeur and intense drama. Bravura intensity meets in both work and performance. Try also the harmonic awareness advanced by Paderewski in the slow movement – hints of Wolf maybe? – though the main inspiration is one of yearning lyricism and simplicity. If the finale has the initially disconcerting air of one of the faster Chopin etudes it soon absorbs certain Brahmsian traits, not least in the fugal passages. This may seem academic but Paderewski returns to fugal procedure to end both Variations. To sum up; a bold, slightly sprawling, passionate work high on dramatic contrasts played with commensurate control and leonine power.

 

I can’t quite work out the exact date of the Variations and Fugue on an original theme in A minor Op.11 but it was composed quite some time before the later Variations and the Sonata. This is a tale of extreme contrasts and evidence of youthful precocity. The hints of Polish folk tunes are passing but certainly present in variation four and throughout Paderewski unveils a rich palette of suggestive music in this quarter of an hour. There’s a skittish blink-and-it’s gone fifteen second Presto [variation 12] and immediately following it the antique strains of variation thirteen. Number Eleven sounds very much like a funeral march and that’s immediately undercut by the naughty glissandi garnishing Twelve. Paderewski can’t keep still for a second. The work ends in a fugue with a rather academic tinge to it though it’s an eighteenth century academia that the composer mines. Plenty of trills of course.

 

The later E flat minor Variations and Fugue followed in 1903, the same year in which the sonata was completed. I think this is the most impressive music on the disc, fully half an hour of highly organized, complex and impressive writing. It’s a big work, astutely judged and dispensing with the japes of the A minor. It’s also a serious work but not doughty; it keeps the ear alive at all times. The most obvious influence is Brahms but there are some glimmers of Paderewski’s interest in impressionism in variation six. Before checking the tempo markings I characterised chordal playing in variation ten as “grandiose”; sure enough Paderewski has marked it “Grandioso” which is a small tribute to the veracity and vivacity of Plowright’s projection of the music.  He’s tremendous throughout – brilliantly driving in variation fourteen, gnomic in the strange fifteenth variation and evoking bell peals in variation sixteen with great colour and verve. The complex fugue - Brahmsian in orientation once more – is similarly mastered. It ends a wholly admirable disc.

 

There are other alternatives for the sonata. I’ve long admired Waldemar Malicki for his performances of Polish repertoire on Dux and other labels – a first class player who should be rather better known, not least in his collaboration with violinist Piotr Pławner. He’s recorded it on Accord but his couplings are different. His performance is excellent if not perhaps quite as sweeping as Plowright’s and not as well recorded. I’ve not heard Wodnicki on Altarus and again his couplings differ – the Tatra Album Op.12 and Miscellanea Op.16.  Kupiec has recorded the Op.23 Variations and Fugue for Koch Schwann but once more the couplings are much different.

 

This being the case Plowright’s industry and acumen holds a prominent place. Splendid engineering and good notes by Adrian Thomas – I found myself agreeing with each salient descriptive point he made – complete a class package.

 

— Jonathan Woolf

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Ignacy Jan Paderewski (6 November 1860 – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman. He studied music in Warsaw, Berlin and Vienna, and gained international fame with his performances in major cities like Vienna, Paris, London and New York. Celebrated for his passionate interpretations of Chopin, Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, he inspired deep devotion from his audiences. Despite a demanding touring schedule, he composed over 70 works, including the opera Manru and a symphony. A dedicated patriot, Paderewski served as Poland's prime minister and signed the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

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Jonathan Plowright (born 1959 in Yorkshire) is an English classical pianist. He studied with Alexander Kelly at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and with Julio Esteban at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Plowright has performed worldwide as recitalist, appeared with leading orchestras and ensembles, made many commercial recordings and appeared on radio and TV broadcasts. He champions neglected music from Polish Romantic composers, such as Zygmunt Stojowski, Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Juliusz Zarębski, which he has recorded for Hyperion Records and Warner Classics.

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