Turkish pianist
Zeynep Ucbasaran made her name as a
Liszt player, that is, as a virtuoso who can actually play the Hungarian pianist's extraordinarily difficult music. But, as difficult as
Liszt's music is, every pianist knows
Mozart's music is more difficult because while
Liszt's music is only extraordinarily difficult to play,
Mozart's music is extraordinarily difficult to interpret. The thrill of
Liszt's music is nailing the notes in the score, but the thrill in
Mozart's music is touching the sublime behind the notes and above the score. As a
Liszt player,
Ucbasaran got the notes right. As a
Mozart player,
Ucbasaran touches the sublime.
Ucbasaran's program starts with the effortless classical elegance of the C major Sonata, K. 330, and the Duport Variations, K. 573, but moves to the expressive emotional power of the Fantasy in D minor, K. 397, and especially the nearly tragic Fantasy, K. 475, and Sonata in C minor, K. 457.
Ucbasaran's tone is deep and her technique is true, but it is her ability to phrase a line and shape a structure, her ability to make the lines sing and the shapes dance, her ability to go beyond playing the notes to transcending the score, her ability, in a word, to touch the sublime. Eroica Classic's sound is big, close, and immediate.