Some very fine musicianly playing of clarity and authority. Beethoven’s penultimate sonata was played with great architectural shape and a simplicity that allowed the music to seemingly speak for itself. A pastoral serenity to the first movement of sublime simplicity with a glowing fluidity. An Allegro scherzo of exemplary legato that made the treacherous trio a continuous stream of mellifluous sounds where technical difficulties were absorbed so naturally into an architectural shape of mellifluous forward movement .Dissolving to a whisper as the ‘Adagio’ was intoned with religious intensity.The pulsating left hand like a heartbeat on which Beethoven floats an aria of celestial beauty.The fugue that evolved with the same serenity as the aria returned with ever more glowing beauty. A whispered return of the fugue delicately inverted as it reached for the heights with the passionate conviction of a composer tired of the struggles he had suffered and is ready to exult and embrace his future.

The Medtner Sonata was given an exemplary performance where Amit’s musicianship and technical mastery allowed him to steer through the composers sometimes foggy textures with an architectural line that allowed us to appreciate the trees in an overcrowded wood .

It was the same musicianship that he brought to Chopin’s B minor Sonata where he managed to maintain the same pulse in the ‘Maestoso’ first movement that gave such nobility and strength to the radiant beauty of the bel canto of the second subject .A scintillating ‘Scherzo’ of refined jeux perle and a ‘Trio’ with a sense of line given to the intricate counterpoints of knotty twine that Chopin weaves into the texture.The noble opening of the ‘Largo’ grew out of the exhilaration of the Scherzo. A bel canto played with ravishing beauty and whispered intimacy which dissolved into a web of golden pulsating sounds where Amit’s intelligent musicianship could weave his way with such mellifluous clarity. A Presto finale played with ever more excitement exhilaration and remarkable technical control restoring this much maligned masterpiece to the pinnacle of the Romantic repertoire.

It was however in the scintillating encore of Gershwin, Earl Wilde style that Amit let himself go with all the improvised mastery of a born jazz player . His intellectual reticence given second place with an animal like freedom pouncing like a true ‘Kitten on the Keys’ .

Multi-award-winning pianist Amit Yahav is much in demand as a recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist, having earned his reputation for interpretations that grip and move audiences with passion and intellectual insight. His interpretations of the music of Chopin and Schumann in particular have received high praise. In 2018, he earned a Doctor of Music degree from the Royal College of Music for his thesis investigating interpretation in the music of Chopin. Amongst Amit’s success are the Anthony Lindsay Piano Prize and the György Solti Award for Professional Development. Amit also won the 1st International Israeli Music Competition in London and consequently performed Israeli composer Zvi Avni’s On the Verge of Time in London’s Southbank Centre in the presence of the composer. In 2014, Amit attracted much positive attention with his CD “Amit Yahav Plays Chopin“, containing the four Ballades. This release followed Amit’s tour showcasing the four Ballades in an explained recital, which was also selected by the Royal College of Music as part of their Insight Series of soirees offered to their donors. Most recently, his newest disc featuring Romantic piano fantasies by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin appeared on the GENUIN label. 

Amit Yahav a a master musician at St Mary’s