It was in front of an audience of exceptional silence and respect, perhaps dumbfounded, then overflowing with enthusiasm, that the German pianist Schaghajegh Nosrati, 33, gave her first but certainly not her last recital on Quebec soil. What we heard exceeded extremely high expectations.
Schaghajegh Nosrati replaced the pianist Martin Helmchen who had formerly given at Orford, then at the Ladies’ Morning, memorable Diabelli Variations. By choosing the young German unknown here, Wonny Song, director of Orford Music, made his musical heart speak. He was taking a risk, but managed a perfect exchange, such as we would often like to see at the Montreal Canadiens!
From the portrait of the artist drawn by The duty on July 16, we could retain three major elements. Schaghajegh Nosrati rose to prominence through her interpretations of Bach, but more than that, she has been inhabited by Bach’s music since childhood. The great András Schiff took her under his wing, completed her training before making her his teaching assistant in Berlin. Finally, his relationship to sound is physical, but also intellectual: “’Good sound’ comes from understanding. Now, from understanding comes a meaning, and from this meaning comes a depth of sound,” she told us.
A sound experience
To attend a Schaghajegh Nosrati concert is to experience this quest live. And, fascinatingly, it goes beyond what pianists usually do, which is to put more or less pedal here or there in the same phrase. With Nosrati there are, in addition, within the compositions, oppositions of resonant musical sections and drier sections, a bit like in an orchestra playing Beethoven the use of vibrato and non-vibrato for expressive ends.
These sound experiences obviously also affect the general aesthetics linked to a composer. The way of making the piano sound from the first chords of Haydn’s last sonata compared to the 2nd Partita of Bach was striking and this 62nd Sonata by Haydn was the high, almost unreal moment of the evening. Some pianists cut it out (Gould), chisel it (Hamelin), hem it (Schiff). Nosrati comes closest to Bavouzet (he has just recorded it for his volume 11), but adds a spirit, humor, playing in particular with breaks and silences. We don’t remember such an experience in concert in a Haydn sonata, the only one coming close being Schiff, in the previous sonata (D major) in 2015 at the Maison symphonique.
The personality of the artist is reflected from the start of theOpus 116 of Brahms, which is in no way asserted but unfolds in shadows and lights. The mysterious but never forced poetry of Intermezzi n° 2 and 4 is the highlight of this Brahms part.
As for Bach, whose Schaghajegh Nosrati played the overture to the 4th Partita in encore, it is never affected and deploys with luminous clarity the richness of the counterpoint, which is obviously never struck (it is a pedantic fashion among some pianists to punctuate the parallel melodies to make it clear that there is there are several!). As a small personal touch, Nosrati adds in the final Capriccio the fantasy of slightly holding back then relaunching the movement. Charming coquetry that we will greet with happiness given the character of the moment.
After the concert we learned that the pianist was giving this recital in a brand new dress bought in the afternoon, since all her luggage remained somewhere between Germany and Montreal. This did not make him lose his good mood, his concentration and his inspiration.
Bach and Brahms by Nosrati
Bach: Party No. 2. Haydn: Sonata No. 62. Brahms: Pieces op. 116. Schaghajegh Nosrati. Orford Music, Friday, July 22, 2022.