Victoria Concert HallMay 29, 8pm

By presenting young German pianist Ron Maxim Huang in recital, Bechstein Music World cast its C.Bechstein concert grands in best possible light. Huang, of Chinese and Russian parentage, is a prize winner of multiple international piano competitions (including Ettlingen and Xiamen) and possesses a casual charisma and disarming stage presence that is hard to dislike.

Opening with music by Fryderyk Chopin, his view of the Third Ballade in A flat major (Op. 47) was distinguished by a clarity of articulation and judicious pacing. There was never a cause for extreme rubato or stretching of tempos for its own sake, and the music’s narrative unfolded as naturally as breathing.

It got even better in the Third Sonata in B minor (Op. 58), a highly personal account so darkly shaded one might expect from an artist much older than his 25 years. For him, the music represented tragedy, its martial opening bars starkly differentiated from the lyrical second subject. The development was thrilling as he was leading the listener into some kind of personal nightmare.

While the Scherzo flew like one of Chopin’s early Etudes, the slow movement mirrored the first movement’s high drama. Instead of the nocturnal serenity of most other readings, this became a well of sorrows, the depth of which would only be realised by the triumphant finale. Here was a redemption arc the listener was looking for, and Huang delivered with a devastating finality.

Johannes Brahms’ Six Pieces (Op.118) come from his autumnal years. Huang’s response was one of a younger person getting to grips with ageing. The opening C major Intermezzo yielded a rich and beefy tone contrasted with the serenity of the second A major Intermezzo. While the stormy Ballade in G minor had a few dropped notes, the agitato element in the F minor Intermezzo was perfectly captured.

The calming effect of the Romance in F major was brought into sharp focus by the final Intermezzo in E flat minor, a portrait of doom and despair, where a last glimmering ray of hope is extinguished before the descent into a deep abyss. Huang is indeed an old soul in the young ...