Canberra International Music Festival / Theme and Variations Foundation Recital, pianist Reuben Tsang. At Drill Hall Gallery, April 30. Reviewed by ROB KENNEDY.

Cairns-born pianist Reuben Tsang has been described as having “technical wizardry and versatility”; they weren’t kidding.

Each year, the Canberra International Music Festival (CIMF) holds a free piano recital, which I’ve reviewed for several years. I have to say that getting to experience these upcoming and professional pianists is one of the highlights of the program for me.

This concert opened with the Piano Sonata No.1 in C Major, Op.1, by Johannes Brahms. Performing without sheet music for the Brahms, and with eyes closed for a large part, this energetic work, as an Opus 1, showed not only what Brahms could do but what was to come.

In four movements, it’s a rather rambunctious piece full of vigour and thrust. Tsang didn’t hold back either; the gallery filled with a volume that every audience member would have had no trouble hearing. He handled the piece’s varying moods with passion and sensitivity. The music and the playing made a statement of authority.

A work titled Six Minikins by Melody Eötvös, a senior lecturer in music in composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, followed. These playfully titled works are, as the composer says, “like little postcards”. Composed over several years as “in-between” works, all have a playful and childlike aura.

Reflective, tonal, and charming, these unique little works opened up a sound world that spoke of individuality with a deeply internal dialogue.

They may have been short, but there was so much in them. Poetic bursts of sombre colours, catchy tunes, sensitive sounds, and sonic stories that showed a brilliant composer at work. There was much to like in these melodious fragments. I’d love to hear how she handles music on a grander scale because extended formats show the depth of a composer’s ability. Yet these showed so much as they were. Tsang captured their nature with perfection.

For the final work on the program, Frederic Chopin’s Scherzo No.4 in E Major, Op.54. Again, without sheet music, Tsang had really warmed up in this performance. It’s a complex and showy work with a lot of sensitivity, but that’s normal for Chopin. It’s how he brings these qualities together and sustains them that keeps pianists and audiences alike coming back to his music.

This one is a romantic tale; I think some in the audience were swooning. Chopin says so much in his music, as this piece highlights, and so much of it is filled with passion and romance. Tsang’s feel for this work seemed to fit his personality. He is sensitive, composed, and a highly effective musical storyteller.

This was an encouraging opening to what looks like another captivating CIMF.