Recital at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

​Pianist Jayson Gillham, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham:review by NottmPostEG | Posted: March 06, 2016

By William RuffLots of smiles and warm applause greeted the end of Sunday morning's recital by young Australian pianist Jayson Gillham. And it wasn't simply a case of the audience liking his dazzling performance of a wide-ranging and demanding programme. They also liked him.His technique may have been formidable, but his easy, friendly manner - together with his calm, unshowy keyboard style - immediately endeared him to his listeners.Gillham began his programme with Handel's Harmonious Blacksmith Suite, the famous final movement displaying much crisp articulation as each variation was played twice as fast as the one before.In his introduction to Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata Gillham illuminatingly explained how the composer's new state-of-the-art piano, with its added top notes, inspired him (literally) to new heights of keyboard composition. This performance made the piece seem new-minted, its structure revealed in high definition. Like the Handel beforehand, Beethoven demands some jaw-dropping digital pyrotechnics at the end, a feature which Gillham seemed to relish.