Piotr Anderszewski

Pianist Piotr Anderszewski developed a marked affinity for meticulously constructed compositions, above all Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. Far from delivering arid or pedantic accounts, he earned recognition for the nuanced insight and inventive character of his readings. Born on April 4, 1969, in Warsaw, he profited from the eased emigration policies that prevailed in Poland during the 1980s. His training took place at the conservatories of Lyon and Strasbourg, at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, and at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; he also took part in master classes held in Italy under Fou Ts’ong, Murray Perahia, and Leon Fleisher.

His professional path opened at the 1990 Leeds Piano Competition, where he presented the Diabelli Variations and then began Webern’s Variations before abruptly leaving the stage. The departure was not a gesture of temper; he simply judged that his account of the Beethoven had already conveyed what he wished to say. That performance brought two consequential offers: a solo recital at Wigmore Hall and a studio recording of the Variations for Teldec, which he declined on the grounds that a live document would better retain spontaneity. He subsequently toured widely across Europe, appearing most often in London, and at one point joined violinist Viktoria Mullova for joint engagements that also produced their first joint recording. His earliest solo discs were devoted to Bach, Beethoven, and Webern.

In 2000 he made his American debut and received the Karol Szymanowski Award for his advocacy of that composer’s music. The following year he concluded an exclusive contract with Virgin Classics and, at last prepared to record the Diabelli Variations, worked under the close observation of filmmaker Bruno Monsaigneon, who chronicled both the sessions and Anderszewski’s reflections in the manner of his earlier portrait of Glenn Gould and the Goldberg Variations. Anderszewski next turned to Mozart piano concertos, directing from the keyboard. In 2002 he was awarded the Gilmore Prize and directed part of the funds toward promoting Szymanowski’s works, organizing festivals dedicated to the composer in Paris, New York, London, and Lodz.

He remained with Virgin throughout the opening decade of the century, issuing both core repertory by Bach and Mozart and music from Eastern Europe. A two-disc set documenting a live Carnegie Hall recital appeared in 2009. Further honors followed: an ECHO Klassik Award in 2011, two BBC Music Magazine Awards—including Recording of the Year—in 2012, and both Gramophone and ECHO Klassik Awards in 2015 for his first release on Warner Classics, devoted to Bach’s English Suites. In 2017 he issued Fantaisies, an album exploring the notion of fantasy in works by Mozart and Schumann, while recital engagements that season took him to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Tonhalle in Zürich, and Carnegie Hall in New York.