Silver lining as Czech pianist flies in to save the day

10:29am Thursday 17th August 2006

WEDNESDAY found the festival in the gorgeous interior of St Francis Xavier Church - a new venue this year. A capacity audience had gathered to hear the young Czech pianist Libor Novacek, who had flown in from Prague at 48 hours' notice to replace an indisposed Andreas Haefliger.

As Mozart's little A minor Rondo unfolded, a stillness overcame the audience - they were obviously in for something special. This piece, for all its apparent simplicity and charm, touches melancholic depths and Novacek revealed the uncertainties behind the faade. Still in classical mood, we moved on to Mozart's Sonata in C K309 - delivered with the utmost charisma and beauty of tone. Then a change of mood for three spiky little Czech dances from Martinu, these (like the rest of the programme) most engagingly introduced by the artist and played with such wit and panache, we were eating out of his hand by the interval.

The second half started with the centrepiece of the recital - Schubert's great A minor Sonata D784. This rather grim work was given a magisterial performance in which the drama of the music was never allowed to unsettle the underlying structure. A moment of relaxation followed with Liszt's arrangement of Schumann's song Frhlingsnacht.

The recital ended with Liszt's Mephisto Waltz No 1, delivered with style and bravura. We were treated to an encore - Da Falla's ritual fire dance, another virtuoso show-stopper.

by Stewart Taylor