Here is quandary or controversy writ large. How do you respond to 38-year-old Italian Persian pianist Alessandro Deljavan? Is his Chopin seen through a distorting mirror, or does it disclose the deep and dark roots at the heart of Chopin's tortured genius? Is he a pianist who cannot leave well alone, or does he uncover the true Chopin buried beneath years of stale tradition? Does he, python-like, squeeze every expressive ounce out of Chopin so that he cries out for mercy, or is his playing, like Schumann's David in his march against the Philistines, exemplify a triumph of imagination over convention.? Such questions come thick and fast.
More specifically, you may well find Deljavan's opening to the Barcarolle so convoluted(particularly if you have Lipatti's legendary and patrician recording in mind) that freedom becomes license. Per contra, you may find yourself on an expressive journey that will hold your attention, never allowing it to wander for a second. In the Four Scherzi you are left in a state of awe regarding Deljavan's command; his technique is outsize, allowing him for better or worse the liberty he so dearly cherishes. The violence of the First Scherzo(Chopin is always at his most turbulent in B minor) can rarely have sounded more engulfing, and all Four Scherzi brim over with a plethora of points and ideas that stem not from a desire for difference at any cost(Deljavan is surely the least narcissistic of pianists) but from a genuine and deeply held personal belief.
The recital ends with the two opus 62 Nocturnes(the first alive with the sound of the nightingales that haunted George Sand's garden in Nohant) and, once more, you may find line and phrase inflated beyond their natural life, or find yourself with insights that make you listen as if for the first time to these two incomparable works.
So where does that leave you? You may feel, like the Berlin critic, Ludwig Rellstab who castigated Chopin in relation to John Field; 'where Field smiles, Chopin grimaces, where Field sighs Chopin groans' if you replace Field with Chopin and Chopin with Deljavan. On the other hand, you could turn to three celebrated figures of the music scene, Fou T'song, Dmitri Bashkirov and John Perry who confessed themselves lost in wonder at a pianist so much more than different or unusual. For Fou T'song Delavan 'is one of the most interesting pianists I have heard in my life.' For Dmitri Bashkirov 'his playing is full of intensive power and contagious artistry,' while for John Perry 'he is the most major talent of his age that I have ever heard and one of the few I would go out of my way to hear.'
. What remains unquestionable is simple. Alessandro Deljavan , a pianist who dedicates his record 'to all of you that will always be under my skin,' has to be heard.
Bryce Morrison