Boris Giltburg is a young pianist who is attracting considerable critical attention. His recital at the Sheldonian last Friday might therefore have been expected to offer something out of the ordinary. The advance publicity drew comparisons with the young Sviatoslav Richter; quite a billing to live up to.

Giltburg undoubtedly has considerable technical ability, and a talent which promises much. But comparisons with Richter seem overdone. The recital opened with Beethoven’s sonata Op.57 the Appassionata, a work which tests to the limits a performer’s musical sensibilities. Giltburg was throughout self-conscious, never quite capturing the energy of the piece. The phrasing and dynamics were studied and the overall effect was one of constraint. I missed the intoxicating outpouring of feeling one associates with this work.The three Brahms intermezzi Op.117 which followed were more convincing. The second intermezzo in B-flat minor is a particularly haunting work and Giltburg showed an impressive deftness of touch here. The poignancy of these pieces came over well.

After the interval Giltburg seemed to relax. His playing in the Greig Op.7 sonata in E minor was both persuasive and engaging. This was Greig's first mature work and it is full of youthful confidence and high jinks. Giltburg seemed far more at home with this music than with the Beethoven. The romantic finale was handled with admirable fervour.

Prokofiev’s D minor sonata Op.14 is another work of youth, and again Giltburg was at home here. This is consciously precocious music and one can imagine the composer enjoying the sense of shock it created among some of his listeners. Giltburg seemed to revel in the percussive rhythms, though on occasions I felt the overall shape of the piece became a little murky.

The two pieces he chose as encores were both vehicles for displaying his phenomenal dexterity – exercises in virtuosity rather than musical expressiveness. Giltburg is only 24. It will be interesting to see how he develops.