Rafal Blechacz (b. 1975) won the 2005 International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the first Pole to gain the gold medal since Christian Zimermann did so, and Zimermann has since helped sponsor the younger artist’s career. Blechacz’ performances of mazurkas, polonaises, and waltzes, many videotaped for YouTube dissemination, impressed the Warsaw judges enough to motivate them to award no second prize. This all-Chopin CD for DGG is his first commercial release in what constitutes a three-year contract.
Blechacz’ 24 Preludes attempts to impose an emotional continuity among them, beyond their harmonic debts to the circle of fifths. Because the Preludes arrange themselves as “other forms” – nocturnes, mazurkas, abbreviated sonata movements, etudes – Blechasz can demonstrate his prowess, and his considerable poetry, in a variety of modes and characterizations. The E Major, G-sharp Minor, B-flat Minor, F-sharp Major easily stand out as testaments to a delicate but forceful keyboard style, quite classical in approach, more Dinu Lipatti than Artur Rubinstein. Heady drama in the C Minor. No mercy in the G Minor. The D-flat “Raindrop” Prelude proceeds almost as a minimalist reading, except the bass line pulses sensuously in the middle section. The A-flat Major plays almost like a ballad, taking its harmonic shifts as periods for rhythmic adjustments. The E-flat Major, the most Schumannesque of the series, enjoys a liquid forward motion. The B-flat Major suggests how the study of Debussy has affected Blechacz‚ visions of Chopin. Finally, the Dorian Gray Prelude in D Minor, played Allegro con fuoco, a Dantesque journey whose middle section might be worthy of Francesca da Rimini’s lament.
Blechacz gives us two preludes as an epilogue to the main set: the little etude-like A-flat that shimmers dewdrops; and the infinitely erotic C-sharp Minor, Op. 45, as much Scriabin as it is the Polish or French salon. The two Op. 62 Nocturnes combine an audacious harmonic syntax with a liberated trill, sudden runs of pearly color, mature, often inflamed passions expressed in a classicism unique to Chopin’s world. A cool head and a devotee’s heart reveal themselves in this fine debut by a young keyboard master.
–Gary Lemco
