ZORA MIHAILOVICH
Pianist in the Grand Tradition

ZORA MIHAILOVICH:
Mozart Piano Sonatas
(Virtuoso Classics)

Clavier Magazine: October 2001
By: Robert Dumm

Artur Schnabel once remarked that "playing Mozart is like walking down the Main Street in cellophane - everything shows." Too true, for that is how we are introduced to pianist Zora Mihailovich on the C.D. Mozart Piano Sonatas. A former faculty member of Belgrade University, she has taught at the Eastman School since 2000. Her principal teacher was Carlo Zecchi, who studied with Schnabel. Mihailovich's delicate playing has presence and conveys a sense that she means every note, and with minimal movements she produces a wide range of tonal colors and dynamic shading. The tempos on this CD allow for the fine articulations and in this the pianist shines. A single 16th note receives an expressive ritard or a single slur demurs slightly before she pulls on track with the next beat.

Mihailovich brings out fine details in Mozart's music. The seraphic Adagio that introduces Mozart's seldom heard Eb Sonata, K. 282, is beautifully played. Spinning the melodic lines from inner singing while keeping the accompaniment to measured staccatos with spare pedaling, the artist gts right into the music with some of the best playing on disc.

The A Major Sonata, K. 331, Turkish March, has the happy sway of a simple folk song, and Mihailovick is careful not to slur over barlines. In Variation I colorful slurs against a persistent rat-ta-tata bass arouse an operatic frenzy. The Adagio Variation V is the climax of this non-sonata movement, but here she fails to move me and seems beguiled by the complexity of this variation.

In the Menuetto Trio that follows, Mihailovich seems animated by the feeling of the music. Broad pulses flow and the music dances. The artist always knows exactly where she is within the phrase; demonstrative at the outset and floating for the rest. The pianist's technique shines here, with sharp staccatos and sprinted runs in a seeming outburst of martialed energy. I particularly admired her octaves, stressing the right-hand thumb and alternating with low, sustained bass notes.

Mihailovich concludes with what Einstein called Wolfgang's "most Mozartian" sonata, the Bb , K. 333. He might well have added most operatic. A fuller realization of repartee between voice and orchestra would have let the artist to fresher repetitions, injecting harmonic punctuations with humor or surprise, as in the last movement where a tonic six-four chord unleashes a full-scale concerto cadenza. More sonorous cadence arrivals would have lent graceful flow to elements spanning themes in the first movement.

Still, Mihailovich's care for detail and technique provide rare moments of musical and technical ability. She also has produced CDs of Chopin, Anton Rubenstein, and solo Rachmaninoff for Centaur, as well as Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto with Franck's Symphonic Variations for RCT/PGP.

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