A near-capacity audience turned out for the latest instalment of this year's Harrods International Piano Series, including, unusually, a fair number of children. "Look! It's the piano!" shouted one of them excitedly as we queued up to enter the hall, craning to see the instrument on the outside monitor. Blasé adults may have smiled condescendingly, but if they'd been asked for their own reaction in mid-recital they might have come up with the same level of revelation.
There are few people who can put across the sheer joy of playing the instrument better than American pianist Richard Goode. To watch him play is to look through a window on to a very private world - utterly absorbed in the music, he plays as if nobody else is there, even humming along. His face is never still; he seems literally to be attempting conversation with the piano.
Goode's genuinely un- affected approach brought out the best in his programme of Bach, Chopin and Beethoven. What stood out was not the novelty or individuality of each composer, but in fact how similar their intentions were. To all of the works Goode brought a remarkable clarity of line, and it was this transparency that made apparent the likenesses between them.
The threads of counterpoint in the Allemande of Bach's first French Suite were unbroken, woven closely together but never knotted. In the eight Chopin pieces that followed, his playing never became indulgent. He revealed the clear melodic lines within, charging each note with purpose. Counterpoint like this is not something we associate with Chopin but, given the composer's respect for Bach, its presence shouldn't be a surprise.
Goode ended his programme by making Beethoven's Sonata Op 110 sound almost as cleanly logical as the Bach. Musical corners were turned so neatly that the first movement seemed an endless stream of song, and a whole host of characters were lent to the theme of the fugal finale. As the lights went up and the spell was broken, it was quite a surprise to realise that Goode had known we were there all along.
