Freddy Kempf: Colston Hall

IN this the first of three concerts in which the Bristol Ensemble will be joined by Freddy Kempf to present the full cycle of Beethoven's piano concertos, the choice fell on the contrasting vital No1 in C major and dramatic No3 in C minor.

In all these works Beethoven, a virtuoso pianist as well as composer, tests the soloist's technical ability to the limit, with a series of examinations.

Freddy Kempf not only passed the technical examination, but displayed a feeling for the music that brought both concertos vividly alive. He started off concerto No1 with a vitality that made the notes bounce off the keys as if they had an exuberance of their own.

Conductor Jonathan James took the orchestra with Kempf and they were completely with him as he brought more passion into his playing at the start of the concerto No3.

In the face of these two flamboyant performances the orchestra's two offerings, Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Faure's Pavane, rather faded into the background, but still provided two splendid curtain raisers to the Beethoven concertos.

8/10

GERRY PARKER