South Florida Classical Review

On Sunday afternoon, the Friends of Chamber Music of Miami continued their 2024-2025 season with a concert by pianist Sara Daneshpour at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at FIU. A prizewinner at the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition, Daneshpour has built a strong performance career in recent years. Her concert on Sunday displayed her admirable  qualities as a performer, and made a strong case for her artistic vision.

The first half of the concert consisted of Book I of Claude Debussy’s Preludes. In these twelve fascinating works, Daneshpour enjoyed creating a sense of depth and distance by using clear entrances which fade off into a murky sonic backdrop. She displayed a strong sensitivity to the different qualities of the attacks and sustaining of notes across the piano’s registers, which she balanced superbly. This was an extremely beautiful effect in the resonant hall, especially in some of the more texturally complex preludes, including “Danseuses de Delphes” and “Les Collines d’Anacapri.” “Voiles” was particularly enchanting.

In other Preludes, however, her sensitive playing missed some of the music’s stranger elements. “Des Pas sur la neige” was played tenderly, but without an essential haunting quality. “La Sérénade interrompue” sang with the sweet, pearly voice of a lyrical tenor, but not with the guttural desperation of a flamenco singer. Overall, the effect was more akin to watercolors than to the dense plastering of paint on the canvases of Monet or Van Gogh. 

This did not at all draw away from the vibrancy of her coloristic palette. She created a number of stunning, hold-your-breath moments, including the glacial ending of “Des Pas” and the sparkling final chords of “Les Collines.” Daneshpour showed a remarkable ear for both melodic line and harmonic color, and her biggest strength lies in her sense of movement and phrasing.

The second half of the concert opened with a Sonata by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach in F sharp minor from one of his earliest published sets. The son of Johann Sebastian, C.P.E. was by far the most famous Bach in his lifetime until the revival of interest in his father in the mid-19th century. Only recently is C.P.E. Bach’s vast catalogue finding its rightful place in the repertoire of concert pianists.

In the sonata’s first movement, the pianist’s textures occasionally become blurred by her overly smooth phrasing in the resonant acoustic. However, that same quality became a strength in the second movement. Her sound was both clear and delicate, and proved utterly captivating, and her original cadenza at the end of the movement was a delightful surprise. The finale brought a satisfying conclusion, with a strong rhythmic feeling, textural clarity, and a sense of dramatic flair.

The sonata served as the perfect introduction to the warhorse of the second half, Robert Schumann’s Symphonic Variations, Op. 13. These were played magnificently, and Daneshpour’s virtuosity was on full display. As in the Debussy, her strongest quality was her sense for long melodic lines, which brought cohesion and logic to a difficult work.

She demonstrated a striking expressive range, carefully balancing the contrast between Schumann’s Florestan and Eusebius personalities. Some of the most touching moments of the concert came in some of the supplemental variations posthumously published by Brahms, inserted by Daneshpour in the middle of the work. These were truly magical; time seemed to stand still.

Daneshpour’s lyrical sensibility worked against her, though, in the raucous Finale. Her light sonority failed to provide the cumulative dramatic impact after the sweeping lines of the preceding music, and the effect was underwhelming.

Still, overall Daneshpour is a talented pianist with a clear and convincing vision of the works she presents. She possesses not only a technical command over the instrument, but a deep understanding of how to use it.

The next event for Friends of Chamber Music takes place 8 p.m. January 27 when Stephen Hough performs Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3, Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, and works of Cecile Chaminade. miamichambermusic.org

Posted in Performances

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