Vaughan Williams Suite for solo piano
Ravel Le tombeau de Couperin
Lilburn Chaconne
Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 2 (original version)

Concert pianist Michael Houstoun is one of New Zealand's finest musicians, praised around the globe for his vivid, fiery playing and for the clarity of his incisive interpretations. His Festival recital contrasts glowing music by two Commonwealth composers with glittering keyboard masterpieces that show off the power and poetry of the piano.

Houstoun begins his concert with the warm-hearted lyricism of Vaughan Williams's evocative, folk-inspired Suite, and continues with Le tombeau de Couperin, Ravel's light-hearted yet reflective look back to the glories of French Baroque music in six exquisitely poignant memorials to friends killed in the First World War.

Houstoun continues with the colourful, nature-inspired Chaconne by Douglas Lilburn, one of New Zealand's most prominent 20th-century composers. He concludes his recital with the lush Romanticism and dramatic virtuosity of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Sonata.

draws magnificence from his Steinway

The New Zealand Herald

This concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.