Pianist Adam Harasiewicz won the 1955 Warsaw Chopin Competition, beating out second place winner Vladimir Ashkenazy. Yet while Ashkenazy’s international career blossomed, Harasiewicz kept a relatively lower profile, at least among American audiences. Parts of his 1950s/’60s Chopin cycle for Philips (not quite the complete works, but most of them) appeared on CD, including this newly restored item courtesy of Arkivmusic.com’s on-demand reprint program.
At best, Harasiewicz’s interpretations are straightforward and solidly executed, and not without insight. At worst, they’re cool, foursquare, and lacking in dynamic breadth. The three sonatas generally fall into the cool, foursquare, no dynamic breadth category, especially when measured alongside superior versions that have appeared in subsequent decades. For example, while Harasiewicz’s technique more than meets the cruel demands of the First sonata’s finale, Ashkenazy, Katsaris, and Andsnes offer more flair and less effort. The Second sonata’s unison finale boasts impressive control and evenness, although the pianist does not quite sustain the whirlwind tempo with which he starts.
Among the Scherzi, No. 3 stands out for the analytic clarity of Harasiewicz’s articulation, and for the way the introduction still can shock when played in strict tempo. He orchestrates the Barcarolle coda’s polyphonic strands quite beautifully, and if the Ballades lack the ultimate in poetry, dynamic contrast, and demonic drama, they’re intelligently shaped and true to text. But Harasiewicz’s “mezzo-everything” dynamic range and lack of abandon in climactic passages results in a small-scaled, uneventful F minor Fantasie. The sound is good for its vintage.
