By Anna Windisch
On the 22nd of September, the Polish Culture Society of Edmonton, in collaboration with the Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies and the Czechoslovak Society for Arts and Sciences of Alberta, hosted a performance of one of the Czech Republic's greatest contemporary pianists, Prof. Boris Krajny, to herald the beginning of this year's Festival of Polish Culture 2011 in Edmonton.
The program was devoted to celebrate present or recent anniversaries of six music giants of Central European provenience, opening with a Polish born composer to whose oeuvre Krajny dedicated a good part of his life, and whose interpretations bestowed worldwide fame onto him: Fryderyk Chopin.
After an impressive interpretation of four pieces by Chopin, Krajny performed music by two other Polish masters, namely Ignacy Jan Paderewski (Nocturne, Op.16) and the less known Moritz Moszkowski (Love Waltz, Op.57 No.5), these pieces being played by Krajny with his characteristic attention to tempo and dramatic detail.
The second half of the program commemorated the anniverseries of Mahler, Dvorak and Liszt. Opening with what appears to be the only surviving solo piece for piano by Mahler, an arrangement of the Adagietto of the 5th symphony, Krajny showed extreme emotional intensity before plunging into Antonin Dvoráks expressive works. The evening concluded with famous works by Franz Liszt, (Sonetto No.104 del Petrarca and Nocturne No.3 in A-flat major) culminating in a virtuous, and intense presentation of the Mephisto Waltz.
Krajnys humble and grateful personality increased the devotional atmosphere of the concert dedicated to music geniuses, and Krajny was acknowledged with well-deserved standing ovations by his grateful audience. The festival to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Polish Culture Society in Edmonton could not have had a more festive anacrusis.