The crowd was still buzzing from the first concert as we lined up to hear the second group of eight players in the Sydney International Piano Competition’s first round. “I’ve never heard the Mephisto Waltz played like that!” came the muttering from one aficionado and there are certainly plenty of punters in for the long haul, ready to hear every performance and experience every nuance of the competition.

Russell Torrance was Master of Ceremonies, presiding over the event and calling the action for the live audience and ABC Classic FM listeners from the studio in the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s Verbrugghen Hall. The concert began with an Australian Showcase performance by Melbourne pianist Nicholas Young, who played Serge Bortkiewicz’s brooding and passionate Ballade in C Sharp Minor Op. 42 on the Fazioli piano, treating the audience to wonderfully florid technique and pianistic beauty – and this was just the warm-up act!

The first competitor for this section, Japanese-American pianist Rachel Kudo performed a pair of Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas (A Major K.332 and A Minor K.175) with touching delicacy before tackling Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Paganini. Dubbed “Witch’s Variations” by Clara Schumann, these variations on Paganini’s famous 24th Violin Caprice...