TIM Ravenscroft’s last appearance in the town hall was as a member of the English Piano Trio, but this time he was giving a solo piano recital.

In the absence of printed programme notes, he introduced each piece beforehand and seemed entirely comfortable both in presentation and performance.

He began with Mozart’s Fantasy in C minor, K475, which, as he previously remarked, often sounds operatic or even like a concerto with its imaginative mix of musical styles.

Janacek’s Sonata, 1.X.1905, which commemorates the death of a protestor in Brno on that date, is inevitably going to be a more dramatic piece and the first of the two surviving movements was both grave and somewhat ominous.

The second, Death, began calmly but Ravenscroft invested it with an appropriate sombre tension too.

Three Chopin Preludes, including the Raindrop, lightened the mood and the Ballade No. 3, which developed rather slowly at first, ended in a grand flurry.

Ravenscroft seemed particularly comfortable in Beethoven’s Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90, with a welcome variety of touch and some noticeably gentler playing on certain passages.

He ended with a sensitive performance of Schubert’s Sonata in A minor, D784, reflecting what he described as its heart rending, deep beauty.

The next concert in the Concert Series is on Tuesday 13 October when the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra will play Elgar’s Cello Concert and Brahms’ 4th Symphony; box office 01642 729729.

Peter Bevan