Late style: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms
This is a modified version of my pre-concert talk for a Canberra recital by Piotr Anderszewski on 21 November 2025, presented by Musica Viva Australia. This evening’s recital features the inspiring pianism of one of today’s most thoughtful solo artists, Piotr Anderszewski. I remember hearing Mr. Anderszewski in this same venue back when I was a student and he was performing a classical concerto (or possibly two classical concerti?)—either Mozart or Haydn—with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. I couldn’t remember the exact program and tried and failed to find it online. He did make a recording of two Mozart concerti around the same time with his own original cadenzas. It was nothing like I remembered; in the live performance he literally improvised the cadenzas on stage, and it was so much more vivid and wild and free than the polished version on disc. It made quite an impression on me as a young student! Hard to believe that this happened more than 20 years ago... Last year I tur...