At Church | Published 2017/02/14

His fingers danced on the keys

By Aldona Zakrzewska

Melbourne’s warm summer nights resound in musical interludes, many of which emanate from various places of worship. Over the years, the Polish Seventh Day Adventist Church in Dandenong has hosted many a notable performer and on the 11th of February 2017, the accomplished polish pianist, Paul Zawadzki, was no exception. The delicacy of Domenico Scarlatti’s baroque sonata led into the passionate flair of the Romantic Composers, from the tempestuous Frederic Chopin to the avant-garde Sergei Rachmaninoff, the melancholy of Manuel de Falla’s mudejar intonations, back through the dreamy reverie of Ferenc Liszt, before returning to Chopin in his dizzying waltz for the encore. Each crisp drop of the hammer on the vibrating strings clearly defined in frantic arpeggios the virtuosity of the original inspirations in a glorious interpretation of historic works with modern relevance. The beat of a scurrying city, the yearning of an exiled heart, the exuberance of youth and the hope of a joyous tomorrow could all be heard enchanted into tenuous melodies. Notes daintily trembling as dew drops on spider’s silk were set wildly swaying with the a hail of cascading thunder sparked by the lighting fast fingertips dancing over the keys, circling and swirling through the mazurkas, then revitalising the senses in a drizzle of peaceful clarity before once again whirling into wonder. Few young pianists could retain the stamina required to play these challenging and complementary works and still finish off with a flourish of the impeccably executed minute waltz in not much more than sixty seconds – it was a glorious night indeed.

 

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