Friends of the School of Music present Mike Cheng-Yu Lee in recital

On Friday evening, the audience in the Larry Sitsky Recital Room were privileged to experience the sound of a treasure from the ANU Keyboard Institute – Paul McNulty's 2004 exact reproduction of a Conrad Graf Viennese action piano, from the period 1810-1820 – played by fortepiano expert Mike Cheng-Yu Lee. There are few musical encounters that can compare with a solo performance in the intimacy of a chamber such as the Sitsky Recital Room, and it is to be hoped that similar events will increase in the new year as the ANU School of Music builds its outward facing public programs. Lee is lecturer of piano/keyboard performance at the Australian National University, School of Music and director of the ANU Keyboard Institute.

Lee introduced each work, performing the repertoire from memory with the familiarity of someone who has absorbed the music into their own identity. His style is exquisitely economical; exactly the right amount of energy is expended to recreate the dynamic variation and ornamentation suggested within the score. Lee is sparing with his use of rubato, choosing to moderate the tempo subtly to enhance his performance rather than make an overly dramatic statement. As only a master musician can, Lee drew us inside the music; into an experience of the musical ideas expressed by Beethoven and Schumann.

Beethoven's Bagatelles, Op.126 opened the concert. This performance of the Bagatelles, the last work written by Beethoven for the piano, seemed to offer a view from Beethoven's era into newly imagined musical possibilities. The quirky passing notes, sudden rocking rhythms, passing references to folk melodies and Beethoven's signature dramatic extremes in dynamic variation were captivating on the Graf with its clean articulation and distinctive resonance.

Schumann's Papillions, Op.2 contrasted well with the two Beethoven works featured in the recital. I enjoyed Lee's crisp attack and controlled approach to the forte double octave passages, cleverly affecting the transition into and out of the more lyrical passages, leading to the final "hunting song" without obscuring the internal narrative connecting the musical ideas.

A notable feature of the Graf piano is the characteristic "nuttiness" of the bass and this quality was nicely exploited in Lee's interpretation of Beethoven's Sonata in A flat major, underpinning the brilliant passages in the right hand with complementary warmth. In his introduction, Lee spoke of the composer's clever structuring of the Sonata to avoid resolution for the longing expressed throughout in the chord structure until the final cadence. This of course represents the challenge for the pianist – to make sure that the audience remains engaged with the search for resolution as they navigate the intellectual and emotional journey through Moderato, Allegro molto, Recitativo: Arioso I, Fuga I, Arioso II, Fuga II. Lee's deft balance of the consecutive melancholy Ariosos and the passionate, serpentine Fugas made this a memorable performance.

If you love excellent, pure music and did not attend this concert, make sure you do not miss Lee's next recital.