Edinburgh International Festival review: Steven Osborne

Published on Tuesday 31 August 2010 19:54

STEVEN OSBORNE ***** Queen's Hall

Scottish pianist Steven Osborne just seems to get better every time he gives a concert. For his recital programme at the Queen's Hall, his versatility knew no bounds. In a first half which took the form of a whistle-stop tracing of American music from ragtime to living composer George Crumb, topped by an improvisation of his own making, Osborne even had EIF director Jonathan Mills dancing in his seat in response to his tightly rhythmic, percussive version of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag.

Firmness of touch was also a feature of the first of Gershwin's unfailingly popular Three Preludes, which changed mood in turn to become deliciously languorous and irrepressibly bright. The music of Charles Ives has been something of a revelation this Festival and Osborne contributed to that with a deeply effective performance of his Three-Page Sonata, typically meaty in content and completely individual in its command of musical language.

The Ukrainian Nikolai Kapustin was a different sort of revelation. A classical composer who writes in a jazz style, his preludes, five of which were heard, may be easy enough listening but are never superficial. Osborne was a perfect conduit for their laid-back, jazz bar feel. A quiet grin indicated admiration for Oscar Peterson's music too, and a second half shift to the world of classical music proved that Osborne is equally at one with Ravel and Rachmaninov.