Peter Carpenter City Hall Theatre Saturday, May 28 *** W HAT'S so great about Awagadin Pratt? That question nags at me after experiencing my first Peter Carpenter concert. And it's not about bragging that he's home grown and we need to recognise our local talent. To be honest, I find such arguments lame and often insulting.

Peter Carpenter is simply an excellent pianist. If he was Russian I would wholeheartedly support efforts to bring him in to perform here.

His programme choice was so much more in keeping with what I would want to hear and the sensitivity exuded so powerfully positive and relaxing.

Mr. Pratt, a favourite choice of Bermuda Festival organisers tends to choose pieces that jar my sensibilities and his style is one of banging the keyboard, so that I usually leave the auditorium agitated.

Mr. Carpenter thoroughly captivated a packed house on Saturday night at City Hall. The audience appeared to have been yearning for his selections.

He began the evening concert with Franz Schubert's Fantasy in C (The Wanderer). The piece in four movements ran very much as the name suggests with a meandering rolling of notes in various tempos, demonstrating the agility and dexterity of Mr. Carpenter.

Three concert studies, Il Lamento, La Leggierezza and Un Sospiro by Franz Liszt were next on the programme. Rendered not only accurately but with genuine feeling and depth, the discerning audience were quick to show their delight, clapping heartily between each piece.

The most beautiful music of the evening, at least to mind, came after the intermission. Four scherzos by Chopin were played with such sensitivity that they caused my entire mind and body to fully relax and be transported. The mood was broken somewhat by a man behind me who was so moved that he said, "That was just excellent, just excellent''.

I shared his sentiment on the second scherzo, No.2 in B-flat minor Op.31. and really cannot improve on his description.

There was rousing applause at the end of the concert and a standing ovation after the first encore which led Mr. Carpenter to offer us yet a second piece, one of the most recognisable in classical piano Chopin's Etude No.3 Opus 10 (Etude in E).

One audience member might not have realised but she hummed most of the way through it. It was a bit distracting but easily forgiven.

It was a fitting note to end on and the audience completely satiated and conscious that another standing ovation would have made them appear greedy, expressed their delight by applause.

Mr. Carpenter really must be persuaded to perform much more often because there is a deep hunger in a large section of the community for the music he serves up so gently and so wonderfully.

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