ZIARUL DE IASI

Wednesday, 21st February 2007

A Well-Tempered Pianist

by Alex Vasiliu

 

The portrait of Andreas Henkel, the pianist: sensitive, not wasting his talent in effusions, delicate, not giving the impression of effeminacy, careful with sound effects, without impending on the style, as a whole.

Andreas Henkel is clearly attracted by Bach and Handel’s music. Almost two years ago, on April 7th 2005, he performed in Iaşi Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. The defining feature of that version seems to have been the romantic spirit, despite the final phrases that mark the epoch and Bach’s little instrument, the clavichord. But the crescendos, the accelerations of the tempo, the rubato, the pianissimo nuances and the introverted character of the whole performance give us the picture of the poetic lyricism of the 19th century, especially in the Fantasy. The fugue form imposes by its uniform movement, by the almost monotonous emphasis, by the almost total blurring of the nuances, the coming back to the severe baroque atmosphere.

Also then, in April 2005, Andreas Henkel placed the touching choral Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Bach, in a restrained – romantic attitude, outlining the rise of the melodic line. The beginning of his "Waldstein" did not show, in the spring of 2005, the hugeness, the imposing character that I sensed in other versions and the passages in strong nuances did not reject the continuous delicacy of the performance.

I recalled the record of my musical experience to better understand what I listened to, on Wednesday, February 13th. The artistic personality of the German pianist Andreas Henkel was once again confirmed with the "Appassionata" by Beethoven. The rhythmic outpourings in the first part have passed by like summer rain, the interpreter’s merit being that he predominantly stuck the lyrical, steady passages into the memory of the listener. Henkel is careful with sound effects, he distillates them to enlighten the same introverted romantic spirit. It is a clear, well-polished sound. In the second part, the passages in medium and severe registers are not massive, but they rather bring a lyrical perfume. And again, delicacy. You are driven from a sound to the other – everything that is written in the score is as clear as crystal in Henkel’s performance.

In the third part, Beethoven’s music is not enveloped in large, rhetorical folds but expressed (even in the passages with strong nuances) with a power that lets the sound "breathe", sparkle. All the parts of the sonata, different in compositional and interpretative means are remarkably unitary in Andreas Henkel’s vision.

Because they belong to the same musical style, the "Invitation to the Dance" Op. 65 by Karl Maria von Weber, the study "La Campanella" (after Paganini) by Liszt and the Fantasy in F minor Op. 49 by Chopin have completed the image of the pianist Andreas Henkel: sensitive, not wasting his talent in effusions, delicate, not giving the impression of effeminacy, careful with sound effects, without impending on the style as a whole, restrained in expression, without making the mistake of minor involvement, balanced but bound on the spirit of absolute musicality that characterizes great works.