J.S. Bach: Partita No. 4 in D major, BWV 828
Mendelssohn: Variations sérieuses, Op. 54
Haydn: Andante con variazioni in F minor, Hob. XVll/6
Alkan: Symphony for Piano Solo Op. 39, No. 4-7
Young German-born pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati gave an astonishingly brilliant recital in Farley’s House of Piano to an appreciative audience. This was the first in this year’s Salon Piano Series. She offered Bach, Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Alkan for an evening of richly rewarding aesthetic experience.
For the Bach Partita #4 she chose the older, more appropriate Steinway. With an obvious deep love and respect for Bach she played with emotional intensity without falling into Romantic excesses. For instance, I heard no use of the pedal, but did see judicious use of sustaining notes. The Gigue was delightfully swift.
For the Mendelssohn Variations Sérieuses she shifted to a piano more suitable for later works. She emphasized the more serious side implied in the title bordering on the tragic. She introduced a more Romantic approach to Mendelssohn with occasional broken chords and rubati for the slower variations, yet breathlessly fast in the swifter variations. A very revealing interpretation.
The Haydn Variations in F minor, written when Haydn was already 67 years old, were thought-provoking and not your usual Haydn. While not technically very demanding, these variations focused on only a few musical ideas and explored them fully. I had never before heard these variations and was struck by how they seemed to honor Bach and yet offered a bridge towards the 19th century.
Charles-Valenti Alkan wrote piano music rarely heard in modern times. Greatly admired as a concert pianist during his lifetime, he seems not to have developed a distinctly original compositional style. Nosrati played four études from his Opus 39 and chose to call it a symphony. Hearing the four movements of a ‘symphony’ in four different keys is highly original, and she found humor in Alkan’s imitation of tympani. Alkan’s pianist skill shown in his compositions obviously gave Nosrati a chance to display her extraordinary technical skills with presto leaping octaves in the left hand and myriad notes in the right hand. It was a welcome chance to hear this unusual composer.
As she said when introducing her return to Bach for her encore, we had already heard “too many notes”. Bach beginning and ending and forever.
Review by Karlos Moser
