Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes shows his love for Dvoraks Poetic Tone Pictures
Leif Ove Andsnes \u2014 Dvo\u0159\xe1k: Poetic Tone Pictures (Sony)
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New Classical Tracks - Leif Ove Andsnes
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\u201cIt's similar to life with its highs and lows. That's what I love about this cycle. It's so contrasting and varied,\u201d said Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, who recently fell in love with Anton\xedn Dvo\u0159\xe1k's Poetic Tone Pictures. It\u2019s an ambitious and unusual cycle of piano pieces by the Czech composer featured on Andsnes\u2019 latest recording, Dvo\u0159\xe1k: Poetic Tone Pictures.
\u201cHe has this reputation for not writing very well for the piano because he was not a pianist. He was a violinist and didn't own a piano until he was about 40,\u201d he said about Dvo\u0159\xe1k. \u201cIt's strange. I've known these pieces since childhood because my father came home from London once and brought a bunch of his pieces. One of them was the cycle played by the Czech pianist Radoslav Kvapil. So I listened to these pieces when I was little, and I especially liked some of the first ones. I played some of them in a youth competition when I was 12.
\u201cI studied the whole cycle during the pandemic, and now I'll give the whole cycle a chance,\u201d he said. \u201cLet's see if Dvo\u0159\xe1k is right because he wrote in a letter to a friend that he thought one could only experience his real intentions about this music if one played the whole cycle, all the 13 pieces together. That's almost an hour of music. I do feel a difference. I feel it's a great journey when they are played together from beginning to end.\u201d
What pieces did you play at that competition?
\u201cI played the first piece, \u2018The Night Journey,\u2019 which is also one of the more ambitious pieces and one of the more difficult ones.\u201d
What did you find challenging when revisiting the cycle?
\u201cIt's a mixture of homecoming and challenging passages that exist. It's such a wonderful piece because it opens like a novel. It's saying, \u2018I'm going to tell you a story.\u2019 It just opens this personal world to enjoy.\u201d
Can you give me an example of the range of unique colors in these pieces?
\u201cThe second piece, \u2018Toying,\u2019 is unassuming. It's full of surprisingly short staccato notes in the main section, with a conversation between the right and left hands. Then it has, in contrast, a very legato middle section. That means that the notes are bound together, and it's full of pedal. It feels like a brook or river you might find in Schubert's music. It\u2019s fluid with wonderfully beautiful bell-like colors.\u201d
Watch now
To hear the rest of my conversation, click on the extended interview above, or\xa0download the extended podcast on iTunes\xa0or wherever you get your podcasts.
Resources
Leif Ove Andsnes \u2014 Dvo\u0159\xe1k: Poetic Tone Pictures (Amazon)
Leif Ove Andsnes (official site)