Young Polish Pianist Szymon Nehring, whose Chopin-Szymanowski-CD recently won our Supersonic Award, was one outstanding soloist yesterday evening at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, with the Santander Orchestra conducted by Jerzy Maksymiuk.
Santander Orchestra is a cultural project for young musicians, financed by the Foundation MyWay and Bank Zachodni WBK and implemented jointly with the European Penderecki Centre for Music in Luslawice. An Orchestra Committee is selecting the musicians, who form a top notch symphony orchestra, getting classes not only on musical interpretation, but also on career management, media relations, financial management and copyright laws. Thus, the Santander Orchestra is for the young musicians a unique opportunity to gain practical experience outside the university.
Remy Franck presented Szymon Nehring his Supersonic Award Diploma after the concert at a reception hosted by Elzbieta Penderecka (center)
(c) Bruno Fydrich
The concert began by a work composed in 2014 by Jerzy Maksymiuk, Vers per archi, a lovely and atmospheric piece, growing from an intimate beginning to a big crescendo and going back to the calmest music.
Szymon Nehring
Szymon Nehring, the 20 years old Polish pianist, played Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini. From the very beginning he proved to be a master of subtlest nuances in colors and dynamics. According to the character of the variations he was thoughtful and poetic or virtuoso with a sparkling yet always round and warm sound. There was not a single note sounding too loud, not a single moment where the pianist’s playing was showy, but just deep musicality with a golden, lyrical tone all over the piece. Szymon Nehring is for sure a bright pianist with a flawless technique, mature, noble, tasteful and intelligent in his interpretations, one of the most stunning talents we were able to hear in the last few years.
Jerzy Maksymiuk and the superb Santander Orchestra accompanied the pianist with refinement and a non-diary, sugar-free sound.
Jerzy Maksymiuk
(c) Bruno Fydrich
We admired that same orchestra no less in Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No 9, which was incisive, sparkling, full of energy, yet let us deeply feel also the composers lament in the second movement and his walking to the scaffold in the fourth, with fiery brass instruments and one of the most beautiful bassoon parts I ever heard in this symphony. The work didn’t lack ironic and grotesque sounds either, and the orchestra impressed with a clear and well balanced playing throughout the piece. A terrific performance!
Remy Franck, Warsaw
