On the performance鈥淭he performance revolves around one question; how is the mind capable of creating the abomination of the Warsaw ghetto but also of letting Mikhail play the Chopin prelude? 鈥淪ometimes, it makes you feel that, after you鈥檝e heard a first person account of what鈥檚 it鈥檚 like to hear the noise your mother makes when she is being put on a train to be put to her death, it is not possible then listen to something as beautiful as Chopin. 鈥淏ut then it makes you feel that where words end, only music can express the depths of sorrow, courage, resolve and anger that Szpilman鈥檚 life makes you feel.
| Pianist Mikhail Rudy (Pic: Joel Fildes) |
鈥淚t is a conversation between what can be spoken and what cannot be spoken about. In real terms, what Mikhail鈥檚 done is to choose which piece of music goes against which passage of the text. 鈥淲e鈥檝e chosen a few key points in the story to let the text and the music resonate against each other. 鈥淭he music does not illustrate the text; it鈥檚 not like a movie. It is a very delicate, emotional collage where we are operating on a deep instinct. 鈥淥ne of the most extraordinary things Mikhail has done is that the thing begins and ends with the same Chopin prelude. But because of the story that you鈥檝e heard you experience it differently, which is what this process is all about.鈥 |