Recordings/Audio/Store

Crisp, elegant, sophisticated: the pair of short, single-movement sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti which open Camlough-born pianist David Quigley's new CD are delightfully turned performances, full of technical élan and a lively if unobtrusive sense of humour.

He has wide experience as a performer on the international circuit, and it shows in the assurance with which he flits between different styles and periods in this multi-composer recital.

The right-hand work in Debussy's 'Arabesque No.1' has the delicacy of lace spun into intricate patterns, with that elusive mix of classical poise and lightly perfumed romantic sensibility so typical of this composer.

Rachmaninov's Polichinelle, by contrast, is given a boldly percussive performance, vaulting acrobatically from the page in a graphically colourful realisation. The same composer's 'Prelude' in C sharp minor gets a tumultuous rendition, Quigley tucking into the work's boomingly sonorous chordings, drawing huge bass resonances from the excellent Steinway grand piano he uses for the sessions.

This type of late romantic repertoire, with its volcanic emotional gestures, is, you sense, Quigley's favoured territory. He plays it with genuine empathy, clearly relishing the considerable technical difficulties.

The strong kinetic qualities of Quigley's playing are evident in 'Sinding's The Rustle of Spring', a relatively unfamiliar piece where he evokes the vigorous gusting of spring-time breezes and the busy rush of foliage with pictorial relish.

There's more impressive virtuosity in the demanding 'Polonaise' in A major by Chopin. The left-hand skirls are pleasingly elastic in Quigley's interpretation, while he has stacks of the sheer muscularity needed to punch the piece's biggest climaxes out confidently.

Read the full review here

"David Quiqley's recording is a vivid advertisement of how winningly he is playing at present..."