Each generation of pianists contains at least a handful of artists who take the time to delve into Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, such as Walter Gieseking, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Aldo Ciccolini, Leif Ove Andsnes, and, most recently, Stephen Hough. Janina Fialkowska more than holds her own in such company with 25 pieces that reveal her gifts for lyric simplicity and vivid mood painting.
These qualities informed her Chopin Mazurkas cycle, and it’s not surprising to find the Op. 12 No. 5 Popular Melody’s mazurka-like rhythms pointed up with likeminded stylistic flair. She vividly contrasts the Op. 38 No. 7 Waltz’s gracefully rounded phrases and harder-hitting passages. Brooklet rarely has sounded so supple and shimmering, while Fialkowska underlines the Norwegian Dance’s modal spice with knowing understatement, and Once Upon a Time’s narrative flow unfolds as if the music were playing itself. By contrast, the Canon’s imitative voices take on individual timbres that must have taken Fialkowska much time and consideration to realize in sound.
Because Fialkowska and Hough have 14 selections in common, I couldn’t resist making comparisons, such as her dry and clipped reading of Salon alongside Hough’s more liberally-pedaled traversal. Fialkowska takes the outer sections of March of the Trolls considerably slower than Hough, but inflects the central major-key episode with more intensity. By contrast, she allows less leeway for rubato in Notturno than Hough, yet imbues Sylph with giddier characterization. And her rapidly tossed-off Butterfly is more fleetingly impressionistic next to Hough’s comparably lithe yet more fastidiously articulated upward scales. It’s a tossup between both pianists’ equally wistful and flexible treatments of the Op. 71 No. 7 Remembrances based on the Arietta that opens both recitals. The bottom line is that Janina Fialkowska plays Grieg with intelligence, insight, and care, to say nothing of her beautiful sound and superb technique. As my mother used to say, “that’s not chopped liver.” Recommended.
