Of all the young pianists on the international scene, the Argentinian Nelson Goerner is one of the most extraordinary - and this ambitious programme showed that he is quite prepared to take risks in order to prove it.
Schumann's Arabesque in C was a well-chosen opener, highlighting Goerner's even tone and intelligent, restrained musicianship, his playing full of tenderness and good humour yet infused with a wistful gravity. But coming before the same composer's tumultuous Fantasy in C, it seemed like the calm before the storm. The Fantasy was Schumann's attempt to fight his way out of the constraints of conventional sonata form in the wake of Beethoven, and it needs a pianist not only equal to its prodigious technical demands but able to see far enough past them to give it a coherent sense of structure.
The sprawling first movement is the greatest challenge, and here it seemed Goerner was stretching himself to the limit. The opening burst out arrestingly, but when this material returned at the end of the movement there was little sense of change or resolution to it; the struggles inherent in the music didn't seem to have achieved very much. Goerner caught well the orchestral pomp of the March theme in the middle movement; and the third, though slower and seemingly calmer, still had a sense of urgency that gave it an epic quality. The irresistible crescendo towards the end, giving way to tranquillity at the very close, was impeccably judged, and worth the wait. But overall he still seems to be grappling with this piece, and he needs to be more secure in it for his performance to be as focused and hard-hitting as he would like.
There were other demanding works to come, but in these there was no question who was in control. Goerner's smoothly even tone was again to the fore as he began Debussy's second book of Etudes, and his dextrous playing made these complex little pieces flow. Yet the best was to come, and Goerner launched into three movements from Petrushka, given in Stravinsky's own piano version, with sparkling confidence. The piano seemed to open up with the exuberant, jangling sonorities of the Russian Dance, and he threw out the folksy fairground tunes of the climax with panache. Along with the three outstanding encores, this left the impression that, even if not all Goerner's risks pay off, it is very much worth hearing him take them.
