Sasha Grynuk in Ealing
The Mastery and Mystery of a great artist
An hour of superb music making this afternoon in Ealing. Sasha Grynyuk playing Mozart Fantasia in C minor with refined poetic insight, a Wanderer fantasy of dynamic drive and architectural understanding but it was Gaspard de la Nuit that astonished for its total mastery and kaleidoscopic sense of colour.
There was an imperious opening to the Fantasia but combined with great tenderness .The startling contrasts were played with disarming simplicity but always with a menacing twist in the tail as this great drama was played out in an absolutely operatic way. In Sasha’s poetic hands one could envisage the drama unfolding as there was an overall sound even where Mozart writes ‘forte’ and then sudden ‘piano’ and the added gasps of ‘fp’. Sounds that were always in the context of the personages acting on stage and conversing with one another in an age of civilised mutual anticipation. A piano – Rogers – that at first glance one might have not thought possible to bring so vividly to life but it’s almost fortepiano sound lent much to the music like a beautiful but faded photo with a mellow unpercussive sound
Read more here at Christopher Axworthy’s blog
