Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki immerses himself in Chopin’s work

The musician performs three concerts with Osesp, solo recitals and opens the new edition of the Campos do Jordão Winter Festival

When Jan Lisiecki first played with the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (Osesp) he was only 17 years old. He was a boy. He has changed a lot since then. Ten albums have been released, three awards, a career with an average of one hundred concerts a year. One thing, however, remains intact. His passion for Frederic Chopin’s music. And it is with him that the Canadian pianist returns this week to Sao Paulo for a series of presentations.

Lisieck will perform on Thursday 30 and Friday 1 at the Sala São Paulo, with Osesp directed by its musical director Thierry Fischer, when he will play the Concert n. 1 for piano and orchestra by the Polish composer (the program also includes the Symphony n. 1 by Sibelius). Saturday 2 pianist, conductor and orchestra will go to Campos do Jordão for the official inauguration of the International Winter Festival (when they mistake the symphony for the old suite, by Alberto Nepomuceno). And, on Sunday, returning to the Sala São Paulo, Lisiecki gives a solo recital at the International Piano Festival promoted by Osesp throughout the year.

“It will be a week of immersion in Chopin’s music,” jokes the 27-year-old artist in an interview with Estadio early Wednesday afternoon, shortly after his arrival in Brazil and his first contact with Fischer – and a few minutes before his first test with Osesp.

Time

The passion for Chopin is not unreasonable. Lisiecki’s career is closely linked to this repertoire. A record of the piano concerts he made at the age of 12 in Warsaw ended up being chosen as the official record of the celebrations for the composer’s bicentenary. In 2018 he spoke with Estadio on the choice. And the terror he felt when he got the news – it only subsided when the host told him there was nothing on the tapes that he was ashamed of.

Pure modesty. But also an already mature look. “You cannot accelerate wisdom. I need time to understand these and many other works better, there is no way to change them,” he said at the time.

Remembering the comment, he states that nothing has changed. Or rather, maybe now you have a little more peace of mind to face the weather. “Gaining experience also means understanding that at every concert you learn. And that the path is one of constant construction in the relationship with music, which also includes discoveries about you, about who you are”.

or Concert n. 1 for piano and orchestra playing with Osesp was the second written by Chopin, although it was cataloged in his work as the first. “No. 2 seems to me a piece in which the composer does not seem so sure. The first, in turn, reveals more confidence, even if the slow movement brings that feeling of pain, of nostalgia. It is not the greatest concert of always written, but it is a very particular piece, for the piano writing and also for the dialogues that Chopin creates with other instruments “, he explains.

At the Sunday recital, Lisiecki joins the night of the Poles with theirs Education, in an original combination. “I could do a program with just the night, to show the beauty of these songs, but it would be an emotionally very tiring repertoire, both for me and for the audience. The union with the Education allows for an interesting flow and offers new perspectives for both series. “

The music of the night has occupied several composers from different eras. And on your new record, night music, Lisiecki has recorded such songs by other authors. “Some of them think of Nocturne as a lullaby, but if you think of Schumann, for example, his music reveals emotional turbulence. Ravel works the night as an idea, a concept.”

Source: Terra

Emily

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