New: Murray Perahia Performs at Zellerbach
Pianist Murray Perahia has been in the spotlight for more than 40 years. I first heard him play in a recital in Princeton, New Jersey, back in 1979-80. Now, on Sunday, April 17, he returned to Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall for a recital under the auspices of Cal Performances. On the program were works by Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, and Beethoven.
The opening work was Joseph Haydn’s Variations in F minor, a piece published in 1799, late in Haydn’s long career. It was hailed by scholar A. Peter Brown as a work that “presents a microcosmic but complete view of Haydn’s late keyboard style.” In this brief set of variations, two themes are developed. The first, in F minor, seems melancholy but deeply felt. The second, in F Major, reveals a brighter mood, and it is decorated by a number of brief right-hand runs that are the pianistic equivalent of a singer’s trills. Murray Perahia was particularly expressive in handling the second, brighter theme, which included much cross-handed virtuosity.
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