PIANIST Kristian Lindberg will make a very welcome return to Newton Abbot’s Courtenay Centre on October 20 for the first of the NADSA concert series Sunday afternoon performances.

His last concert in Newton Abbot was back in 2017, and this October, he will take the audience on a grand sweep of musical eras: from Baroque, to Classical, to Romantic, to Impressionist/Modernist.

It seems that Lindberg loves playing Mozart and Rachmaninov: they both featured in his 2017 recital, and different compositions by both composers will figure this in his convert this year. In addition, to open the concert, the audience will be truly spoilt by keyboard pieces of two towering composers from the Baroque: Handel and Bach.

Handel’s Chaconne in G, HWV 435 is a virtuosic piece with elaborate ornamentation and an exhilarating conclusion. Within it, as well, are periods of poetic tenderness.

Of course, Handel could never have played the modern piano, but one feels that, as a very accomplished keyboard player, he would have relished the prospect of its different sound world.

Bach’s English Suite No 2, a set of contrasting dances, is another tour de force. Here, also, agility and clarity are required by the performer as well as subtle gentleness. Each dance has its unique characteristic, varying from deep feeling to exuberant joy.

Following the elaborate Baroque, the Mozart Sonata No 10 in C, K 330, is acomparatively more simple and elegant affair with lyrical harmonies. It is the epitome of classical form, cast in three movements (fast – slow – fast).

Mozart composed the piece it in 1783 when he was 27. Living in Vienna and recently married, he was establishing himself as the city’s foremost keyboard player. Incidently, he had acquired his own fortepiano: considerably different from the keyboards of Handel and Bach.

Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales will introduce another musical world. Written in 1911, it contrasted so much with his earlier works, that many audiences could not understand it at all!

As well as lyrical poignancy, it is full of adventurous harmony and dissonance that was seen as very daring for the time.

Kristian will finish his concert with romanticism: Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No 2. Interestingly, though written two years after Ravel’s Valses and revised in 1931, it almost feels like an earlier piece.

It is a monumental composition of power and passion. Within it, there’s contrast, chromaticism, drama and, of course, melody.

Kristian’s performance, which is sponsored by Nadsa member Penelope Stinton, takes place on Sunday October 20 that 3:30pm, at the Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot.

All tickets must be booked in advance from the society’s website at www.nadsa.co.uk