FEBRUARY 9,10 CITY HALL If the piano world had such a thing as a pin-up cover girl then she would have to be Muza Rubackyte.

The way this red-haired Lithuanian beauty took the stage by storm with her fierce presence last night was a very rare treat in Bermuda.

From my seat in the audience it seemed Rubackyte was a good, old-fashioned Prima Donna full of dash and spunk -- complete with hasty theatrical dabs at perspiration from her forehead and the intensity of a nuclear explosion.

This first-class musician, praised all over the world for her talent, gave nothing like a traditional piano recital -- think passion, fire and thunder rather than awkward children or matronly spinsters bashing out hymns.

The programme's opening piece was perfectly designed to quickly dispel any concerns held by audience members.

Rubackyte performed Ferruccio Busoni's transcription of Bach's Chaconne in D Minor, injecting the intended Romantic era flourishes into the original and exploiting the piano for all it was worth.

Anyone in the audience looking to get comfortable and switch off for a couple of hours once the lights went down -- like the man sitting beside me -- was woken up with a bang when Rubackyte hit her first cadenza.

It seemed as if her fingers were possessed by a spirit out of this world and she was happy to let those demons haunt the audience as well.

Beethoven's "Appassionata'' sonata had someone in my row of seats tapping their feet as if he couldn't help but get down and boogie.

Rubackyte captured the inventiveness of the impulsive German composer and brought his famous hot-temper to life, throwing about her stunning mane of red hair and whipping her arms around as if they were some kind of ninja weapons.

Her awesome rendition of the sonata -- composed after Beethoven had lost his hearing in his thirties -- brought home the tragedy of the composer's deafness but perhaps it was that pain which put such oomph into it.

The stormy finale seemed to be packed with the anger and swinging emotion -- a perfect example of why Beethoven got his reputation as one of the Romantic era's driving forces.

And it contrasted perfectly with the dreamy, reflective middle movement -- except for a distracting audience member who insisted on unwrapping noisy lollies at several crucial moments.

The hottest piece was no doubt Schumann's Carnaval, Opus 9.

Rubackyte managed to conjure up all the anguish, sadness and malice this German composer must have felt after he was deprived of the woman he loved -- amazing how a troubled love life pushes the imagination and creativity along.

The Carnaval was like taking a tour through the mind of some kind of schizophrenic -- the lows points, the dreams, the voices and the soaring incredible highs.

There was no doubt last night the stirring final suite, Davidshundler March against the Philistines, was the big high. It left the audience pumped so full of adrenaline they couldn't stop clapping for an eternity.

Even when the pianist eventually surrendered to their wishes and gave a lilting encore it was not enough for some of the audience scattered through the hall who insisted on nothing less than giving her a standing ovation.

Ever the star, Rubackyte seemed humbled. But surely she is used to such praise since she's been stunning audiences ever since her professional debut with the Lithuanian National Chamber Orchestra at the tender age of seven.

She studied at the prestigious Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, was praised as one of the then-USSR's best pianists and won the Budapest International Piano Competition Grand Prix.

And since the arrival of perestroika in 1989 Rubackyte has travelled and performed throughout France, Germany, Holland, England, the USA, South America and Asia. Naturally, the whole world loves her.

-- Deidre Stark Muza Rubackyte: Played at the City Hall last night.