Michael Houstoun is one of New Zealand’s finest concert pianists, praised for his vivid, fiery playing and for his incisive interpretations. His recital contrasts glowing keyboard masterpieces by two Commonwealth composers.
Vaughan Williams Suite for solo piano
Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin
Lilburn Chaconne
Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 2 (original version)
Houstoun begins his concert with the warm-hearted lyricism of Vaughan Williams’s folk-inspired Suite, and continues with Le tombeau de Couperin, Ravel’s reflection on French Baroque music in six poignant memorials to friends killed in the First World War.
Houstoun also performs Chaconne by Douglas Lilburn, one of New Zealand’s most prominent 20th-Century composers. He concludes his recital with the lush romanticism and virtuosity of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata (1914).
This concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Photograph: Michael Houstoun. Sal Criscillo.
