Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
October 20, 2018

Sir András Schiff is undoubtedly musical royalty but what a pity he doesn’t visit Australia as frequently as the British royal family! His last visit to these shores was over 20 years ago, and given this royal tour consists of just two concerts (one in Melbourne and one in Sydney), it’s no wonder that Musica Viva booked Hamer Hall to hold the capacity audience that turned out to hear him in the first recital of his tour.

While his playing puts Schiff in an exalted class, his manner is warm and simple. There are no airs and graces; rather, with a few words his deeply felt and deeply thought-out opinions are delivered with a touch of humour. The first fruits of his intellect were the structure of the program: a first half centred around the tonality of F-sharp and a second half centred around D minor.

Sir András Schiff. Photograph © Yutaka Suzuki

Putting Brahms at the emotional centre of the program, Schiff chose contrasting but related works that brought the arch-romantic’s utterances into sharp relief. Beginning with Mendelssohn’s Fantasy in F-sharp minor, Op. 28, then moving...