In a breathtaking range of music that encompassed the Elizabethan age, Baroque as personified by Bach, classicist Beethoven and the romanticism of Liszt, Afro-American pianist Awadagin Pratt took last night's audience by musical storm.

Visually, too, this rising young star provided something of a wake-up call: no tails and bow-ties in sight, but rather, a magnificent set of dreadlocks and a yellow shirt festooned with flowers and leopard spots. Seated on a low stool, crouching and almost cradling the keys, this was a musician who seemed to drag the very soul out of each note. Eccentric? Maybe, but his highly individual approach extended seamlessly into both the technical and emotional treatment of each work: a performance by Pratt is not one that is likely to be forgotten.

Commencing in tantalisingly low gear, he chose The Italian Ground by Orlando Gibbons, a former chorister of King's College, Cambridge, who was born in 1583, gaining fame as organist of Westminster Abbey. He is acknowledged as England's first exponent of the keyboard.

Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor from `The art of the Fugue' is one of Johann Sebastian Bach's most celebrated works and Pratt gave a radiant account of this work originally written for the harpsichord. As the title suggests, this is a bravura work, exploring -- effortlessly, it seems -- the very limits of counterpoint -- and especially so, as played by this musician.

The demigod Beethoven, himself a virtuoso of the keyboard, would surely have been fascinated by this latter-day interpreter: Pratt's approach is itself Beethovian in its fervour and heroic scale tempered with passages of tender and melodic beauty. The composer's Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major was his penultimate sonata and as such, belongs to that "third period'' in which his mature genius flowered as never before.

With eyes closed, and the occasional grimace and smile, Pratt produced the melodic opening theme, finding moments when each note seemed to fall like sparkling droplets of water. Progressing into the lively Allegro he revealed dramatic clarity and definition which gave way to the equally melodic lyricism of the Adagio . Finally, there were the great, climactic chords of the Fuga , delivered at a dizzying, dramatic tempo.

Here incidentally, is a pianist who has apparently solved the problem of Bermuda's propensity for applauding between movements -- he eschews a long pause, sliding almost surreptitiously into each new section.

The second half was devoted to Liszt's Sonata in B minor, a monumental work by the Hungarian composer who was lionised by the concert-going public of the 19th century as much for his showmanship as for his creativity -- which was undeniably erratic. Possibly the first `superstar' of the piano, Liszt seems a natural for Awadagin Pratt, and he positively devoured this work. Described as less a traditional sonata than as "a great rhetorical rhapsody on a few motifs'', it contains passages of great melodic beauty. Totally in command, Pratt interspersed the hugely dramatic flourishes with extraordinarily sonorous and even plaintive tones in an interpretation that could not fail to thrill.

For his encores, Pratt played the `Melodie' by Gluck and ended with Schumann's `Widmung', both pieces revealing a perhaps unsuspected serenity and tonal reticence.

Purists may perhaps be disconcerted with what may be termed a certain free interpretation of his repertoire, but Awadagin Pratt has certainly revitalised the concept of the concert pianist -- rather as Nigel Kennedy did with the violin.

There can be no doubt that this uniquely gifted musician -- who has already enraptured audiences at the Lincoln Centre, Washington's Kennedy Centre and Chicago's Orchestral Hall to name but a few and enjoys a huge following for his many recordings -- is destined for even greater things.

It was great to welcome him back on a return visit to the Festival. As his star rises, we may well look back and realise that we were indeed fortunate to witness the emergence of such an enigmatic yet blazing talent.

PATRICIA CALNAN Back again: Awadagin Pratt returned to City Hall last night.

THEATRE THR