Pianist Sara Daneshpour

DANESHPOUR IGNITES MENDOCINO AUDIENCE WITH VIRTUOSO PIANISM

Sara Daneshpour came from Washington, DC, to present a solo recital Jan. 30 in the Fort Bragg Center for the Arts Series in Mendocino. The white water on the Big River Beach out the south windows of Preston Hall in this tiny Northern California town were witness, along with an astounded audience, to what many thought and several expressed was one of the finest piano recitals they had ever heard. They were thrilled and transported by this 23 year old Iranian-American artist with flawless and powerful technique, juxtaposed with a quiet, relaxed body.

The program started with Haydn’s Sonata in F Major (Hob 16/23), unveiling unveil clear and fluid expressive phrasing, and Ms. Daneshpour took an excitingly fast tempo for the moderato first movement. Following was a singing Adagio and a rapid-fire Presto Finale. The performance showed why Haydn’s many neglected piano sonatas are now reappearing on recital programs.

Chopin’s iconic B-Flat Minor Sonata, Op.35, a much loved piece, became in Miss Daneshpour’s supple hands a poem embracing technical perfection, with a core of tenderness. She demonstrated blazing octaves balanced by the nostalgia of sustained romanticism. The funeral march, familiar to all in the packed hall, expressed both deep pathos and overlying grandeur. The finale, the haunting “Wind Over The Graves” movement closed the first half, but not without the artist offering an impressive rendering of Chopin’s racehorse for the left hand in C Minor, the “Revolutionary” Etude of Op. 10, No. 12.

Schumann’s Abegg Variations, Op 1, originally written for piano and orchestra, left an impression of overwhelming pianistic mastery as Miss Daneshpour’s fingers flew lightly in ghostly runs under a singing powerhouse in the right hand. Franck’s Prelude Chorale and Fugue was marvelously performed. The work develops from a quiet prelude through a passionate chorale into a majestic fugue that increases in complexity and sweep to an orchestral ending. Although seemingly unknown to most of the audience, it brought the audience again to its feet at the close.

The day’s most technically demanding work, Prokofiev’s Toccata, Op. 11, ended the formal program. The exhilaration generated by this perfectly executed speeding, leaping torrent of notes was then lovingly calmed by Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 23 in B, a quietly flowing three-part invention of an encore that allowed one to depart the hall in a more peaceful disposition.