Whatever led Marcin Fleszar to pair Rameau’s A minor Suite with Schumann’s Davidsbündlertanze, all I can say is that the idea is original and inspired. More importantly, his interpretations thoroughly enchant. He approaches the Rameau in a freer, more spontaneous way than Angela Hewitt and Alexandre Tharaud, with a wider berth of rubato, not to mention the pianist’s bountiful portfolio of fanciful accents and inner voices. Yet these “effects” are incidental to the overall purposefulness and design that Fleszar’s pianism conveys. His detaché articulation embodies levels of nuance that give multi-dimensional character to movements like Les Trois Mains and Fanfarinette. In this sense, Fleszar’s Rameau is attuned to Marcelle Meyer’s miraculous and standard-setting 1953 recordings of this repertoire.
Likewise, Fleszar navigates Schumann’s volatile sound world with just the right balance of mind and heart. He shapes No. 1’s motives with subtle rhythmic spring and canny timing, while judiciously balancing No. 4’s dynamic abandon and lyrical respite. Fleszar addresses the underlying ferocity of No. 6’s tarantella-like triplets without pushing harder than necessary, and he inflects No. 8’s “stride piano” left-hand jumps more than most pianists, consequently generating greater tension. By contrast, he forges seamless long lines out of No. 11’s melodic statements. Also notice the canonic interplay between the right-hand chords and left-hand bass lines in No. 16 that Fleszar so deftly brings out. I wish that the close-up, vividly detailed sonics had more room tone or hall ambience, but that’s quibbling in light of Fleszar’s exceptional artistry.
