It’s hard to believe that three years have passed since Jayson Gillham’s magnificent Beethoven cycle at Elder Hall with Nicholas Carter and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (recorded by ABC Classics). He returns with a recital of Bach and Chopin, his true specialities. The first half of the program was devoted to the music of JS Bach (mainly in the form of piano transcriptions).

Jayson Gillham. Photo © Benjamin Ealovega

Opening with Egon Petri’s arrangement of Sheep May Safely Graze, the sense of intimacy, warmth and familiarity immediately appealed with a similar sense of delicacy and masterly legato in Wilhelm Kempff’s Siciliano adapted from a flute sonata. Here were performances which used the romantic qualities inherit in the modern Steinway, played with clarity and balance without resorting to the dry style of Tureck or Gould. The only Bach original in this selection lay in the delightful B Flat Major Partita where brass-like sonorities and crisp articulation informed the opening praeludium. Dance was an important aspect in Gilham’s approach to both of these featured composers. Recognising all of the repeats within this work, his take was both rhythmically steady and...