Llewellyn Hall, ANU
May 6, 2015

The outstanding feature of this concert was the superb performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 by Hoang Pham, born in Vietnam but resident in Australia from an early age. He was the winner of the 2013 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers’ Award and at the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition he was awarded Best Australian. He has won other prestigious prizes in Cleveland, Brisbane and Melbourne. He would, I think, be an ideal interpreter of the Mozart piano concertos. He has an immaculate technique, his tone is always pleasing, he phrases musically and dynamically; his demeanour at the piano is quiet and undemonstrative. Even in the most strenuous passages, his tone never became percussive. His encore of a Chopin Nocturne showed that he is as effective in a reflective composition as he is in re-energising old warhorses.

Although both the soloist and the orchestra were equal to the technical demands of the concerto, this was not the usual barnstorming performance of the work. The approach of both the pianist and the conductor revealed the subtle beauties of the concerto – especially the beautiful solo...