Süddeutsche Zeitung, 10 February 2004 (Sabine Radloff)

Brilliant Technique and Subtle Interpretation

Young pianist Anika Vavic does not miss a single nuance performing at the “altes kino”

Ebersberg - In a few weeks, the young pianist Anika Vavic will be playing her debut with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra at the Gasteig; at the sold-out performance in Ebersberg’s “altes kino”, the audience had a chance to catch a “sneak preview” and cheer her on. The sympathetic and very natural artist offered a grandiose array of brilliant technique and polished interpretation to lovers of the piano. At the beginning of her varied and compact program, she played Joseph Haydn’s Sonata for Piano in D Major, Hob. XVI:19. Anika Vavic offered not only an aesthetic, cultured sound, but also a transparent display of the stylistic and formal richness of the composition; she celebrated it with a powerful eloquence that did not leave one nuance undiscovered.

Afterwards, a stylistic leap introduced the audience to the Four Pieces Op. 51 by Alexander Scriabin, transporting it to Moscow at the beginning of the 20th century, and a broad spectrum of iridescent sound impressions. Johann Sebastian Bach’s English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808, represented the baroque era in this program. The pianist presented this work with subtle tone and easily discernible differentiation of movements, maintaining a constant pulsing flow throughout. In this piece, she added a velveteen tone to her varied palette of sounds, and the audience rewarded her confident playing with much applause.

The second half of the evening was devoted to the epoch-making Vienna waltz and threats to world peace. Maurice Ravel wrote his Valses nobles et sentimentales in 1911, playfully weaving together waltzes by Schubert, Weber, Chopin, Johann Strauss the Younger and even Franz Leh?r. This piece profited especially from the pianist’s talent for grasping and savoring every nuance of a composition. Silvery shimmering sounds gave way to spherical impressions, a forceful touch provided the vehement beginning with a broad sound-basis, and the pleasant calmness at the end maintained its suspense until the piece drifted into an almost inaudible pianissimo.

In April 1940, Sergey Prokofiev premiered his Sonata No. 6 in A Major Op. 82 on the radio, and the first concert performance took place in November of the same year in Moscow. The piece demands highly contrasting expressivity as well as virtuoso playing from the artist. She managed both convincingly.

Translation: Alexa Nieschlag

By kind permission
Süddeutsche Zeitung and DIZ München GmbH

[ original article ] [ illustration ]