Chopin Festival opens with last-minute replacement as Gülsin Onay steps in

Pianist Muhiddin Dürrüoğlu was scheduled to play for the opening concert on April 11 at the Süreyya Opera House but cancelled shortly before the date with an unfortunate injury. Gülsin Onay came to the rescue, and what a stunning rescue it was! One of Turkey’s most respected pianists, she lived up to the hype that evening by pinch-hitting on very short notice.

Onay began the concert with the familiar “Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise Brilliante,” which packed plenty of punch. Her version of this pianistic blockbuster bore her trademark sparkle and powerful structural delineation. Always glamorous, Onay wore a jacketed mauve gown with a ruched ankle-length skirt, looking the model of a tasteful yet whimsically stylish concert artist. Other than Onay herself, the pièce de resistance of the program -- the Piano Concerto No. 2 -- wasn’t something she expected to perform at all. In fact, for her own program for the festival on the 19th, she had chosen totally different selections. This concerto was planned from the beginning with the inclusion of the Spiegel String Quartet (whose origins were unannounced on the program, but who I later learned were from Brussels), who would play the Turkish premiere of Chopin’s own quartet arrangement of the orchestra score, and adding a contrabass performed by Aykut Durşen.

Premiere of the concerto’s chamber version

Written when he was still a student at the age of 20, this Concerto in F minor (which was actually written before his first piano concerto) clearly shows how exceptional the young Chopin was as a pianist and composer of piano works. He was influenced by previous prominent concerto writers: the opening Maestoso movement of F minor is modeled on the concertos of Mozart’s pupil, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who wrote a definitive treatise on pianism, and the central Larghetto is based almost literally on the Piano Concerto in G minor composed in 1820 by Ignaz Moscheles, a piano professor at the Academy of Music in London and at the Leipzig Conservatory. The closing Allegro vivace is the most original movement of the three, at first a Mazurka-like section, then a stylized Polish folk song with the violins playing (on the wood -- the bow used upside down) to charming effect. The dazzling piano part is so compelling and energizing that it makes us wish he had composed many more than only two concertos!

This string arrangement, however, in contrast to the familiar orchestral version sounded thin and too sweet in general. I missed the radiance and fullness that wind instruments give; the climaxes sounded thin despite the expert collective efforts of the musicians. At best, it had a lively sextet feel, and Onay’s blazing filigree in the middle movement and wonderful spiky drama in the last made the piece succeed despite the lack of sustaining elements that an orchestra could provide.

Spiegel Quartet steps in, also with great style

Also not originally planned for the opening program, the quartet pulled out a musical treasure from their repertoire: Felix Mendelssohn’s F minor Quartet, Op. 80, No. 6. This virtuoso work requires extremely skilled coordination due to its demanding texture of perpetual motion. It seemed like there were almost no static moments to catch one’s breath. His music is like riding the waves on a surfboard -- the only respite you get is when you land. It was fascinating to see how Mendelssohn wrote such intricately interlocking parts like a jigsaw puzzle and how they fit together while still being in continuous motion. The Spiegel (meaning “mirror” in German) Quartet, being seasoned and consummate artists, gave an impassioned performance full of schwung, sweetness and speedy sizzle; Mendelssohn’s spirit was sent into our ears with superb style.

About ‘Chopin Week’

Musicologist Mehmet Mesçi, a Turk who has lived in Europe, noticed that France and other countries were planning festivals for Chopin, but there didn’t seem to be anything organized in Turkey for the bicentennial. So he gathered pianists, sponsors, venues and finally the aegis of İstanbul 2010, singlehandedly. “Chopin is one of Europe’s most illustrious artists; his composing is so brilliant -- with just three notes he tells a story,” Mesçi says with considerable ardor. “Mozart was facile and prolific, Beethoven was a visionary but Chopin was intimate: in his Nocturne Op. 9, within five notes, he puts you immediately into his world.” Mesçi’s birthday gift to the Pole who penned 230 compositions, mainly for the piano, continues through May 9, featuring Turkish, Polish and Hungarian pianists and other guests.

April 18 - Özgür Aydın plays nocturnes, impromptus and waltzes

April 19 - Gülsin Onay plays variations, sonatas and nocturnes

April 24 - Gabor Csalog plays mazurkas, scherzos and cello sonata (with cellist Isvan Varga)

April 28 - Marek Drewnowski plays polonaises, ballad and variations

May 2 - Endre Hegedüs plays polonaises

May 5 - Emre Şen plays etudes, nocturnes and waltzes

May 9 - Emre Elivar plays sonatas

The venues used for the Chopin Weeks are the Süreyya Opera House in Kadıköy, FMV Işık High School in Teşvikiye, Mustafa Kemal Center (MKM) in Akatlar (Beşiktaş), İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ) Maçka campus and Notre Dame de Sion High School in Harbiye. For up-to-date information, consult www.chopinhaftalari.com as well as www.biletix.com for tickets.