Piano, Krystian Zimerman at Opera di Firenze 

Krystian Zimerman, backstage at the Seligman Performing Arts Center, Detroit, in 2004

2014 May 27^th

LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN

Sonata in mi magg
. op
. 109 

Sonata in la bemolle magg
. op

. 110

Sonata in do min. op. 111

Review by Fabio Bardelli

FIRENZE/ITALY: Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman (born December 5, 1956) gave a recital in Florence with Beethoven’s last three Piano Sonatas. The Polish pianist is currently on tour with this very interesting program, playing it in various concert Halls all around the world.

Like other great soloists used to do,  Zimerman also plays in one single concert these three compositions, the last and most problematic in Beethoven’s canon, subject to much research and disputate in the last two centuries.

Krystian Zimerman performs them with his unquestioned technique. His approach is very expressive, he finds an infinite colour palette, and the sound hovers in the large main Hall (even too large for a single piano) of Opera di Firenze filled with an enthusiastic audience.

Zimerman’s Beethoven is very personal, taken back to his classical root,  never seen as just occasion for displaying skill. It’s impossible to forget single moments when the whole performance is transmuted in an intimate confession, like he would show his real soul to the listeners, so that sometimes we have asked to ourselves if it was like Beethoven’s last will, or Zimerman’s

by Fabio Bardelli

translation from italian Bruno Tredicine