Piotr Anderszewski, Piano

“Not just a significant artist,” said the New York Times, “Mr. Anderszewski is a colorful personality who cultivates a ‘Polish punker’ look with his sleek black hair and tight leather pants.  He would seem to have everything.”  On another occasion it opined, “It can be hard not to wax hyperbolic when confronted with Anderszewski’s sensitive touch and potent imagination.”  Now, listen to this magical pianist’s own tormented thoughts about the pursuit of musical perfection: “When I play with orchestra I sometimes tell myself, I’ll never play a concerto again.  Too many artistic compromises; I only want to do recitals.  When I come through the extreme loneliness of the recital — the heroism and also the cruelty involved — I sometimes think that I’ll never do recitals ever again; from now on I’ll only make recordings.  When I am recording and I’m free to repeat the work as often as I wish, the possibility of doing better, of it being the best possible performance, and where everything can turn against me — the piano, the microphone, and above all, my own sense of freedom — I think to myself, I’ll never go into a recording studio ever again; it’s even more cruel.  In fact, the real, the ultimate, temptation would be to stop everything, lie down, listen to the beat of my heart, and quietly wait for it to stop.” Do not miss this awe-inspiring, and inspirational, artist.