Even now, more than 13 years after he swept the board at the 15th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Rafał Blechacz remains an enigmatic pianist, at least as far as British audiences are concerned. That’s partly because his appearances here are sporadic – his last London recital was in 2015. And this one almost didn’t take place. Shortly before it was due to begin, Blechacz was told that his mother had been admitted to hospital, and he delayed the start for half an hour before deciding to go ahead as planned. In the circumstances it would have been understandable had his performance seemed perfunctory or unfocused. In fact it was quite the opposite – thrillingly direct and fiercely engaged, this was the first time in my experience of hearing Blechacz live that he confirmed what an outstanding artist he is.
He began with Mozart: a distinctly brisk, unsentimental account of the A minor Rondo K511 led straight into the piano sonata in the same key, K310, delivered just as forthrightly. Then came Beethoven’s A major Sonata Op 101, presented in bold, primary keyboard colours, but full of crisply observed details, which seemed to bind this sometimes elusive sonata together more tightly and cogently than ever before.
But it was the second half that showed Blechacz at his very best. Schumann’s G minor Sonata Op 22, which scarcely ever pauses for breath, was negotiated with astonishing technical brilliance and supreme dynamic control, and then contrasted with deeply introspective Chopin, the four mazurkas of Op 24, each a perfectly conceived study in aching, forlorn pastels. And there was more Chopin to end, a rampaging account of the last of the polonaises, Op 53 in A flat, which bristled with intent and challenge in every note.
• At Town Hall, Birmingham, on 23 January.
