★★★★½ Queensland’s star pianist takes London by storm ahead of Aussie tour.

Australia House, London
June 7, 2016

A summer afternoon in London and I am going to a piano recital in Australia House where there’s plenty of imperial gilding to gawp at, but on this evening it is the wonder of the music which awes me. The event was to launch the release by ABC Classics of the debut recital album by Jayson Gillham.  In 2014, at just 27, this young Australian artist won the Montreal International Music Competition and has since given concerto performances with many of the world’s greatest orchestras.  This autumn he will embark on an extensive Australian tour.

Virtuosity is a given at the level at which Gillham works and throughout this programme virtuosity  was much on display, but it was his extraordinary interpretive skill that left me overwhelmed. His programme began with Bach’s Toccata in C minor, BWV911. The first slow, deliberate notes, giving the impression that Gillham was considering the reason behind each of the composer’s musical choices, announced his commitment to communicating the composer’s intensions over showing off his own technical brilliance. It is this commitment that makes Gillham such an engaging...