NOWHERE TO RUN : Daniel Shapiro Says It’s Hard to Play Mozart ‘Because There’s Not Much to Hide Behind’

Daniel Shapiro does not hesitate to name Mozart as “the most difficult composer there is--because there’s not much to hide behind in his music.

“There is so much subtlety and inflection, and so many of the moods can be almost double-edged. To pinpoint the right character and atmosphere in Mozart, and to convey it, is very difficult.”

The pianist will be trying to do just that on Saturday: He’ll be the soloist when the Mozart Camerata plays Mozart’s Concerto No. 24 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.

Part of the problem, Shapiro says, is conveying all Mozart’s “drama and passion and intensity without being overly banal or overly harsh in the sound.” He doesn’t think period instruments are up to the challenge. “The expression and amplitude of Mozart’s emotions are better conveyed on a modern instrument,” he asserts.

“In a sense, Mozart cannot be realized on any instrument. Sometimes the piano has to be a singer, sometimes an orchestra, a string quartet or a wind ensemble. Those different kinds of sonorities are much more likely to be realized on a modern piano than on a period instrument. But the music is better than can possibly be played.”

In any case, for the camerata concert, Shapiro will play “a nice modern perfectly tuned, perfectly regulated concert grand.”

Shapiro, born in Southern California 29 years ago, studied at USC and worked as an opera coach at UCLA before moving to the University of Iowa in September, when he began teaching piano and chamber music.

His approach to performing has been influenced by his two musical “heroes”: conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler and pianist Artur Schnabel.

“From Furtwangler,” he says, “I get the idea of freedom in performance--that when we perform we are in effect improvising and/or re-creating the work as we’re playing it.

“We shouldn’t go through a set of rehearsed details. Music has to be a living force. You have to create it as you play. In a good performance, that’s what happens.”

Schnabel has inspired Shapiro to seek “the full range and body of emotion in a work. Schnabel in general went to the very soul and essence of a piece, without ever sounding out of the style. There also was a sense of improvisatory freedom in his playing.”

Shapiro will be improvising on Saturday, playing his own cadenzas because Mozart did not leave any, as he did for other concertos. Shapiro also will add “discrete” embellishments when necessary.

“But I do not go overboard. The slow movement needs some embellishments because some of the repetitions of the main theme sound a little plain without them. But I try not to make it sound like it’s a history lesson. The purity of slow movement is such that you don’t want to make it sound fussy.”