IT SHOULD not have taken an indisposed Ivan Moravec to be treated to a concert by Scottish-based pianist Steven Osborne, particularly given the disappointing performances by international piano soloists at the Festival this year. Osborne is not only
a technically assured player but highly adept at conjuring a variety of textures and sonorities from the piano to suit the repertoire.
For the six pieces that make up Debussy's Children's Corner, Osborne gave a reading that leaned more towards the wistful and melancholic than the playful. Shimmering snowflakes were delicately evoked in The Snow is Dancing and it was a very stylish doll who swaggered through the Golliwogg's Cakewalk.
Beethoven's Sonata No 21 Op 53, better known as the Waldstein, is one of his most challenging with the composer clearly relishing the latest development in keyboard instruments at the time – an extended compass. The rattling chords of the opening movement give way to the enigmatic slow movement, beautifully paced by Osborne. Beethoven brings these two moods together in a magnificent finale which features a lyrical melody stretched tight over a rippling bass line.
The soundworld of Messiaen is completely different, inhabiting a stratosphere of twinkling stars and dazzling comets. Osborne played five excerpts from Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus – "20 gazes (or contemplations) on the infant Jesus", considered to be the greatest of his keyboard works. It begins with a bell-like incantation that tolls throughout Regard du père with quiet insistence. Messiaen's trademark chord clusters chirp like birds in Regard des hauteurs, and fizz like sparklers in the flamboyant Regard des anges. The brightness and range of colours, jazz-like rhythms and tubular-bell like effects, were exquisitely highlighted by Osborne, especially in the Regard de l'esprit de joie which ended his triumphant performance.
The full article contains 303 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
