Garrick Ohlsson - NOSPR

In the discussion which followed the 8th Chopin Competition, Jerzy Waldorff was excited to see that the event’s patron was not a Polish-only composer any more. It was also Ludwik Erhardt who emphasised that the 1970 competition was a show of the strengths to be found in the performing traditions of many countries, while one of them – presented by the Americans – offered the unpopular face of a... healthy Chopin. This ‘healthy Chopin’ must have found his enjoyers in Poland, as recitals by Garrick Ohlsson, the winner of the eighth Competition, are still very popular here. In the programme of the Katowice concert, the Chopin positions seem to seek for their counterparts in different eras. Thus, the Fantasia in F minor op. 49 stems from the tradition of Franz Schubert’s Wanderer-Fantasie in C major. Ursula Mamlok’s 2000 Notes are also a multi-timbral, dissonant fantasia in their own right. The Ballad in G minor op. 23 may, in turn, be linked to Ludwig van Beethoven’s classical Sonata in F major op.10. To provide contrast with the ballad, ripe with shocks, the “Parisian” Variations in B major op. 12 will shine in their brillante style. Ohlsson will also play the magical Barcarole in F sharp major op. 66 (one of his favourite pieces), in which – as he admits – he can see the essence of experiences gathered throughout one’s whole life. 

Piotr Mika

Concert duration: approximately 80 minutes