Yesterday’s Classical Pianist

Silversea Cruises, as does many of the other cruise lines, employs guest entertainers to supplement the permanent singers and dancers. Pianist Filip Wojciechowski joined the ship yesterday in Alta, Norway and performed Chopin favorites after dinner in the Venetian Lounge, Cloud's showroom that accommodates most of the guests in one seating. In my experience, about half of these guest artists are the sort of acts that would be regulars on Ed Sullivan's show in the 1950s: ventriloquists, slightly risqué puppeteers, solo singers who usually are engaged to perform popular selections from Broadway or West End musicals, and nowadays there's an endless stream of "comedy magicians", sometimes one arriving as one leaves.

Years ago I discovered that half of the other 50% billed as, "Classical Musicians", are mostly showmen and women who dance around on stage with a violin or even a cello (ouch) to their rousing rendition of selections from Carmen, or perhaps an "Opera Singer" who feels obliged to do an selection from Tosca in a way that some of us in the audience really hope that the parapet awaits nearby. The rest are pianists that invariably play the same Chopin selections (you know, Polonaise in A or Fantasie-Impromptu) with much improvisation brought on by jet lag or perhaps a good wine at dinner coupled with the jet lag and little time for practicing before their show. 

Last night's performance by Mr. Wojciechowski even added Chopin's Grande Valse Brillante, clearly showing he knows the usual ship's guests' preferences of repertoire from  A to B. The quality of his playing, however, was a rare exception: not as to the selections but in talent. He was quite good. He did the best he could with the lower notes of the ship's venerable Yamaha being seriously out of tune and a number of the guests nodding off. He stayed awake. I will look forward to hearing Filip on a future cruise when he may please the audience by perhaps venturing into the unchartered territory of a movement from the Moonlight Sonota or a little of Rhapsody in Blue. (His second performance two days later were of a Rhapsody in Blue "selection" and another Chopin favorite.)