FOR a concert which was a double debut, it was certainly something to remember.

Conductor Leopold Hager’s vivacity brought the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra alive and, when coupled with a searing performance of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto by Stefan Vladar, this was certainly a concert which kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

 At the outset of the Beethoven – in C minor, the composer’s “fateful” key – Hager had the RLPO creating an almost “pinched” sound, somewhat nasal, but always clean and clear . . . and very refreshing and far from unpleasant.

 Once the soloist came on the scene, the fireworks started. At times hugely forceful, Vladar was also supremely delicate and the cadenza was a spectacular work of art.

 The slow movement felt quite tense at the outset but, again, Vladar’s playing was impeccable. A tumultuous rondo finished the movement off but, in many ways, it was not the fortissimo moments that mattered, rather the hugely delicate, intimate sounds Vladar could conjure out of the piano or Hager could encourage from the orchestra. These were tantalisingly memorable passages in a performance which, surely, would rank with the best.

 To add to that feeling of delicacy, Vladar’s choice of encore – Liszt’s sublime Third Consolation – was just right for the occasion. Yearningly beautiful and, again, played impeccably.

 A sprightly “Great” C Major Symphony by Schubert followed. The ninth symphony is brimming over with melodies, hardly surprising from a composer whose song output is second to none, but the verve of the first movement was lost, rather, in the Andante. It had its edgy moments but it plodded rather.

The dance-like Scherzo breathed life back into the work and the breathless finale came to a quite abrupt end as Hager allowed the final note to die away suddenly. A masterstroke.

Glyn Mon Hughes