Elia Cecino’s piano keys moved between iconic and contemporary pieces at his Bengaluru concert

Elia Cecino, in a concert for the IMAS, burst onto the stage of the Bangalore International Centre with an explosion of showmanship, his strong left hand asserting his arrival in Liszt’s Valse S407 from Gounod’s opera, Faust. The unexceptional waltz theme is given recapitulations of glissando flourishes and subtle variations in the upper register, Liszt’s penchant for the demonic thereby conjuring up Mephistopheles, who lurks in the Faustian shadows. If one felt a relaxing release from Liszt in the following piece, it was deceptive relief, for Brahms’ Variations on a theme by Schumann, op.9F, also required virtuosity, of emotion and technique. In a brave move, Cecino ended with a contemporary piece, Orazio Sciortino’s Nuovo Sonetto del Petrarca, establishing its place in the programme with its mood and sentiment linking it to the preceding Liszt and Brahms.