Last evening in Dunedin's Glenroy Auditorium the audience was reassured he remains ''top shelf'' in his trade, writes reviewer Elizabeth Bouman.
The recital opened with a precise, beautifully enunciated keyboard work by J. S. Bach - Bach English Suite No.2 BWV807.
Baroque keyboard works can sometimes lose their traditional identity when performed on large, modern grand pianos, but not with Houstoun, as he delivered the six dance movements with meticulous attention to individual character - the Prelude with clarity and outstanding articulation, and the Allemande achieving ''tuneful'' melodic prominence.
The contrapuntal character of the Courante was a highlight in virtuosic scalic proficiency and the Sarabande achieved such majestic elegance.
Mozart's Sonata in A minor K310 opened with proudly defined subject matter and pristine scalic passages. The work was composed in 1778 not long after the death of Mozart's mother.
This time of great sadness in the composer's life was reflected in the beauty and mellower tone of Houstoun's more wistful moments in Andante cantabile con espressione, before the final Presto with its dazzling forward thrust and vivacity.
Chopin's four pianoforte ballades (Opus Nos. 23, 38, 47 & 52), composed between 1831 and 1842, are a feast of Romanticism. This one movement genre varies in form and can be contemplative or dance-like, many being formidably crammed with intense colour and emotion, demanding tender simplicity one moment followed immediately by extreme technical virtuosity.
Houstoun rose to the interpretive challenge with sublimely powerful deliveries. Dramatic outbursts contrasted with passionate returning nostalgic themes, and his rapt audience rewarded with long applause and standing ovation.
Houstoun performs again today in St Paul's at 1pm.
