PHOTO
Abhinath Berry in recital
Thursday, October 1 — First Church
Review by Brenda Harwood
Young pianist Abhinath Berry, on a visit home to Dunedin from his London studies, demonstrated his ever-increasing skills in a beautifully balanced and performed recital.
A large audience was kept spellbound by Berry’s mastery and growing emotional maturity as a performer during the recital — also a fundraiser towards his planned doctoral studies in the United Kingdom.
The concert opened with two much-beloved pieces by Frederic Chopin — Nocturne in C Minor Op.48 and Scherzo No. 3 in C Sharp Minor Op.39.
The Nocturne began with calm, unhurried clarity, with Berry bringing the beauty of each sequence to the fore, gathering pace and complexity as the piece demanded.
His performance of the Scherzo was equally impressive, especially the tinkling nature of its many rapid runs, which were handled with aplomb.
Moving on to 20th century Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s Sonata No.1, Berry showed his skill with a very different style of composition — intense, busy and modernistic.
The Spanish dance-inspired Triana, by post-Romantic Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz and transcribed by Leopold Godowsky, was a delightful piece, filled with humours twists and turns and ending with a flourish.
Berry handled its complexities with mastery, while also managing to bring its playful elements to the fore.
The concert concluded with Franz Liszt’s Spanish Rhapsody — a fabulous piece with many fiendishly difficult moments, including rapid chords and octaves.
Berry tackled the piece with a thrilling combination of skill and musicality, which earned sustained applause from the audience.
This was an impressive and thoroughly entertaining recital from a talented young musician on the rise. Bravo!