Snapshots and sound recordings – it’s hard to imagine life without them. They reinforce the natural human tendency to remember people (and musical artists) either as we first encounter them or at specific milestones along life’s way. No doubt inspired by his many fine recordings, music lovers took this rare opportunity to encounter the legendary Stephen Kovacevich in the flesh. A near-capacity audience at Elisabeth Murdoch Hall attested to the esteem in which he is held.

Stephen Kovacevich

Kovacevich is now 78, and although having suffered and recovered from a stroke in his late 60s, he continues to tour. While his recordings are renowned for their emotional intensity and insight, at this stage in his career Kovacevich seems content to claim the prerogative of a more idiosyncratic approach to his performances.

Not so much idiosyncratic as old-fashioned, Kovacevich opened with Bach’s Partita No. 4 in D major (BWV 828), investing the Overture with an appropriate swagger within the context of a flexible tactus. The fluidity of the Allemande and Courante contrasted with the well-spaced introspection of the Aria. It is particularly here in such quiet moments of rumination that Kovacevich shines. There was plenty...