Mozdzer adapts classical Chopin to jazz

Ary Hermawan ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 05/31/2008 12:08 PM  |  Entertainment

THE MAESTRO: Polish jazz pianist Leszek Mozdzer touches the piano strings to produce a dampened sound on the piano while performing at Erasmus Huis, South Jakarta, recently. (JP/Ary Hermawan)

The technical skills required to play Frederic Chopin's difficult compositions are so hard to attain that they are often thought of as the "mount improbable" by mediocre pianists.

To them, being able to play the greatest Polish composer and piano virtuoso's strenuous pieces is perhaps considered a life-time achievement.

But the great tradition of piano playing in Poland did not end with the demise of Chopin. Up to this day, the Slavic country is home to a number of world-class composing pianists who have gone beyond their predecessor in exploring the piano -- some of whom have departed from classical tradition and are no longer confined by the rules and conventions of the "good piano playing" imposed at music schools.

Leszer Mozdzer is one of those new Polish rebellious talents. Performing at the Erasmus Huis on Monday, the 38-year-old pianist gave the audience an unforgettable night with his surprisingly eccentric -- to avoid the word avant-garde -- piano playing.

His music is unconventional, even for jazz.

The audience was indulged by the harmonious, flowing arpeggios as he opened his performance at the acoustically designed chamber with his first repertoire.

The relentless melodies, played in a thoughtfully fast tempo, were mesmerizing -- a pleasant surprise indeed as the audience, knowing Mozdzer as a jazz pianist, had been prepared for ear-piercing, dissonant jazzy chords.

He then began his experimental performance: He put a white towel on the piano strings, creating a dampened sound that made his melodies more intense.

Not only did he do that -- at times he rose from his seat to touch or strike the bass strings with his own hand to create a kind of special effect on the piano, as if it was a guitar with hundreds of strings.

He not only overwhelmed the audience with his admirable finger speed and coordination on the keyboard -- his left hand played Chopin while his right hand improvised with jazz -- he also amused them with his bizarre experiments, producing intriguing sounds through ways beyond the use of pedals.

"I like to experiment. I have put almost everything on my piano," he said after the concert.

While performing his evocative piece, "Pub 700", from the album Between Us and the Light, he put glass containers on the piano strings to create a torn sound that, as he played the composition delicately, was sentimentally beautiful. He used only two glasses, so he had to move them from one section of the strings to others while playing the faster compositions.

Mozdzer showcases a fantastic, acrobatic spectacle as a solo pianist. As a composer and performer, he echoes the greatness of Chopin in terms of vivacity and virtuosity -- although during his concert, he didn't do justice to his great predecessor.

While playing his creative, unorthodox interpretation of Chopin's Mazurka in C Major, he stammered as if he had forgotten how to play it. The audience was left guessing whether he had really forgotten or if it was actually part of the show.

In any case, it was a jazz concert, not a classical piano recital.

The audience knew Mozdzer liked to make jokes. In the midst of his performance, he suddenly told the audience he was preparing the piano, of which he gave a tautologically funny explanation: "Preparing the piano is the process of preparing the piano. That's why we call it piano preparation."

In an interview posted on his website, Mozdzer explains that preparing the piano "means distorting, dumping or introducing new sounds by placing a random item on the piano strings. Anything can be used for this: a phone, a glass or glasses. A long, even edge is important". He arrived at the idea after being bored with his own usual concerts.

Mozdzer began playing the piano when he was five and studied classical music before he encountered jazz, with which he felt a deep connection. In jazz, he found the music that lives, unlike classical music, for which he commented, "(its composers) are already dead now".

Nevertheless, he finished every stage of his formal education and graduated from the Gdansk Academy of Music in 1996. He was introduced to jazz when he was 18 by Emil Kowalkski, a clarinet player. He then joined a self-taught, punk jazz band called Milosc (Love) in 1991, after which he collected numerous musical awards.

He won the International Jazz Improvisation Competition in Katowize in 1994 and was awarded, among others, the Artist of the Year 1997 by the L*dz Music Lovers' Society and won the Polish Culture Foundation 2006 Grand Prize for outstanding performances promoting Polish culture.

He has recorded more than 60 albums, including Chopin-Impressions (1994) and Chopin Demain-Impressions (1999). His improvisations on the themes by Chopin are said to have strengthened his position and ranked him among the most outstanding virtuosos in European jazz. He has also composed for theatrical plays and movies.

Despite his penchant for jazz, he never really left classical music. He said he was still accustomed to the music of Prokofiev, Skriabin or Rachmaninov and not afraid of musical scores, because he learned about them during his musical education.

He also still plays the works of Chopin and Bach, albeit in a truly different way. He said he was raised on Chopin, loved him and respected his music.

But he said he chose to adapt Chopin to jazz because he was, as he put it confidently, "an improviser".

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