The third instalment of the Keys to the City Festival Series with Kirill Gerstein opened with a mesmerising performance of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, followed by his Piano Concerto for the left hand and finishing with Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F.

Kirill Gerstein. Photo © 

As one would expect of Ravel, the winds feature greatly in his Le Tombeau de Couperin. The Prélude opens with the oboe and cor anglais presenting the theme, before it moves to the lush strings and then back to the winds. Conductor David Robertson let the sound flutter away before the Forlane, which set up a beautifully picturesque start to the afternoon. The vibrant acoustics of the Town Hall highlighted the warmth of the winds, but higher register winds, flutes especially, were lost in the more tutti sections. This was a recurring problem, their sound tending to be drowned out by the rich wash of strings.

Originally commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein after losing his right arm in war, Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto is a piece whose difficulty poses great challenges for a pianist. It built like a tsunami, starting from the lowest of the contrabassoons and moving steadily...