LEIF OVE ANDSNES - Dvorák: Poetic Tone Pictures, Op.85 | CD

On his new album, Leif Ove Andsnes presents the most important collection for piano by the great romantic composer Antonín Dvořák - the unjustly neglected Poetic Tone Pictures. According to the Norwegian pianist, these overlooked gems show a completely different side of the composer known for his symphonies and string quartets. "I adore this music, and nobody seems to play it," says Andsnes. Dvořák's 13 piano postcards that make up the Poetic Tone Pictures were composed in the spring of 1889, signaling a shift in the composer's style away from formal constructions towards a freer, more inspired aesthetic. Among these charming pieces are evocations of magic and mystery (In the Old Castle), rustic dances (Furiant and Peasants’ Ballad), nostalgic mood pieces (Twilight Way), and tragic reminiscences (At the Hero’s Grave). The works range from profundity to playfulness, from lightness to fury – "I sense a very strong and wonderful narrative in them," says Leif Ove Andsnes, who firmly believes that Dvořák conceived the pieces in this "exceptional" set as a single cycle to be played straight through. One of the world's most eminent pianists, Andsnes got the idea to play Czech music when a new teacher arrived from Prague at his conservatory in Bergen, Norway. Then 12 years old, his enormous fascination for the Poetic Tone Pictures led him to perform part of the repertoire in a competition for young pianists. Years later, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the globe, Andsnes used the downtime to delve deeper into the Poetic Tone Pictures and commune with their stories. He found works of unfailing charm and many examples of Dvořák deploying a breadth of orchestral color from the piano – in addition to his exciting use of cross-rhythms and syncopations, in the manner of Czech folk dances. "I think he creates unique colors on the piano and uses the full range of the piano convincingly, even though he was not a composer-pianist," says Andsnes about Dvořák's craftsmanship, which the pianist himself captures through a hauntingly concentrated recording made in Olavshallen in Trondheim and produced by John Fraser.