Sasha Grynyuk astonishes and seduces with superb musicianship and artistry together with friends at St Mary’s Perivale
Sasha Grynyuk never fails to surprise and astonish with his superb musicianship and impeccable technical mastery. Today was even more astonishing to learn that he had transformed one of the most awkward piano concertos into a beautiful chamber work that could stand by side with one of the great works in the chamber repertoire. He not only played the Dvorak Concerto without the score but he had also reduced the full orchestral part to a string quartet so this beautiful concerto can be heard more often in the concert hall. Richter too never failed to astonish on his first appearances in the west not only with his pianistic perfection but also with his repertoire choices. He chose this concerto for his London orchestral debut and went on to make a landmark recording of it with Carlos Kleiber. I have never seen it programmed since in London or at least so very rarely. So it is thanks to Sasha for allowing us to hear this beautifully mellifluous work today. An orchestra of four beautiful young lady musicians who played with the same superb musicianship, listening to each other as in the concerto there was a question and answer between the soloist and the orchestra. There is a pastoral character to the concerto that I had never been aware of with a continuous outpouring of melodic invention unmistakably traditional Czech. There were moments of passionate outbursts but like Grieg they were never overpowering but more of intensity than dramatic. The Andante in particular where the chiselled beauty of the piano rose above the harmonious warm background of the strings who were always ready to burst into melody .The dynamic opening of the solo piano in the Allegro reminded me of Brahms’ first Concerto with its dance like energy. There were moments of brilliance from Sasha but played with such musicianship that the actual technical mastery never drew attention to itself but just added to the overall architectural shape of the ‘quintet’. The cadenza too was astonishing for its pure musical shape created by cascades of notes played with such ease and naturalness.
