Guts and passion from teenage pianist Lukas (June 27, 2001)

Those who have watched Lukas's development for longer than I have must be thrilled to see how he is maturing. It's not just his complete technical command of the notes. As he showed with the careful shaping he lavished on the theme of Mendelssohn's Variations Serieuses, he brings considerable interpretative insight to bear on the music as well.

And if the dominant impression is one of youthful exuberance, well, what else would you expect of someone still only 14?

It was a real pleasure to hear the Mendelssohn played with such guts and passion.

And Lukas's sparkling fingerwork in Rachmaninov's transcription of the Scherzo from his Midsummernight's Dream music was sheer delight.

He breought real warmth to Chopin's Third Ballade, and a dazzling array of colours to Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse.

He attacked the savage energy of Prokofiev's Third Sonata with obvious relish.

The curiosity of the evening was the Sonata Eroica by fellow-Czech Viteslav Novak, a powerful work with a big-boned, dramatic first movement and a second which ingeniously blends slow movement, scherzo and finale.

Unfamiliar though it was you could sense Lukas's complete identification with every note.

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