Why is it that Frederic Chopin is the composer of choice for
so many accomplished pianists? Martin Kasik, whose recital at
the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts April 14 includes
several works by the master, ventures a tentative guess.
"I don’t know why, really," Kasik says from his cell
phone while walking around Prague in his native Czech Republic
on a recent spring evening. "But many of us pianists seem
to discover him first, then go onto other composers like, say,
Brahms, Schumann and Schubert."
Kasik – an imposing interpreter of all sorts of piano music,
whether alone or as orchestral soloist – knows of that which
he speaks, having begun playing piano at age 4, with formal lessons
starting at age 7. Twice he entered the Chopin Piano Competitions
in the Czech Republic: once in the junior division, and once
in the senior division. And on both occasions, he won first prize.
"I have always felt that Chopin’s music talks to me,"
Kasik says of the Polish-born composer. "It’s very lovely,
and also a lot of fun to play." Chief among these Chopin
works, Kasik is playing the First Ballade, one of Chopin’s most
expressive and technically challenging pieces.
The rest of Kasik’s recital consists of works by J .S. Bach,
Sergei Rachmaninoff, and two of Kasik’s compatriots – three pieces
by Jan Novak and the Piano Sonata of Leos Janacek.
"I like to present the Czechs also," Kasik explains.
"First, because they’re not so often played, and second,
because I grew up with this music. I feel like I’m very close
to it, but I don’t feel it’s simply because I’m also Czech. I
was born 10 miles away from Janacek’s own birthplace [the small
village of Hukvaldy]. It’s my country too – a lot of Janacek’s
music was based on folksongs, and a lot of these were folksongs
from my region."
As for Novak (who died in 1984, underappreciated even in his
native country), Kasik believes the composer should get his due.
"The three Novak pieces I’m doing are the best piano music
he has composed," Kasik affirms. "It has only recently
been premiered, and I don’t even think it has been recorded yet.
But it should be heard by audiences, because he was a very accessible
composer – very late-Romantic Era in style."
When asked whether he’s performed in New York City before, Kasik
doesn’t bother with a simple yes or no. Rather, out comes a laundry
list: "I’ve played at the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall
with the New York Chamber Symphony, the Morgan Library … I’ve
even played at the Metropolitan Museum of Art."
While Kasik is no stranger to New York, he does admit that he
did not return for a time after Sept. 11. "I was just there
in February," he reports. "But by that time, everything
seemed back to normal to me, the way it always was when I was
here before – which I was quite happy to see."
Even though he is only 26, Kasik already has a quite successful
recording career – an anomaly in today’s depressed classical-music
world.
"I’ve recorded six CDs," the pianist says matter-of-factly.
Kasik’s most recent recording was of two of the highest summits
of the solo piano literature: Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata and
Robert Schumann’s "Kreislerania." Both are definitely
not for the faint of heart (or talent).
"I’ve recorded some of the lesser-known Czech composers
as well, with some Bela Bartok as a complement to them,"
Kasik continues. "And my next disc (for the Arcodiva label)
will be some Chopin."
And why not?
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
presents pianist Martin Kasik, performing Bach, Chopin, Novak,
Janacek and Rachmaninoff, at the Walt Whitman Hall in Brooklyn
College, on Sunday, April 14 at 2 pm. The hall is located on
Campus Road at Hillel Place, one block from the junction of Nostrand
and Flatbush avenues. Tickets are $30. For more information,
call (718) 951-4500 or go online at www.brooklyncenter.com.
