Owen Lorigan (piano)

Handel Variations.........Brahms

Etudes-tableaux Op 39 1, 2, 6........Rachmanino

Sarcasms........... Prokofiev

Dante Sonata........ Liszt

THE five competitors who entered the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition by way of the special Irish preliminary round are currently being heard in concerts around the country. They are being assisted in their preparations for the May competition by Foley Bursaries (funded by Maire and Maurice Foley), through which each of the five players will be heard in a full evening recital at the John Field Room.

The Field Room is not a grateful venue for piano playing, and though it may well be argued that it's as tough a testing ground as the young players could wish for, the venue's small instrument makes demands very different from those of the concert grands of the competition itself.

The first of the John Field Room recitals was given by Limerick-born Owen Lorigan (24), a final-year student at the RIAM. I've encountered him in concert before as a sensitive chamber-music player, but this was the first time I'd heard him as the sole attraction for a full concert.

The unusual construction of his programme - what a daring idea to begin with Brahms's "Handel Variations" - probably has as much to do with what he's chosen for the early rounds of the competition as anything else, though the concentration on late 19th and early 20th century music must be taken as a strong indicator of his personal musical tastes.

The risk with the Brahms didn't quite pay off. It was a pleasure to hear someone seeking to reach beyond the piece's virtuoso temptations. But, accidents aside, the playing was short-breathed, the sense of internal tension was very low and a lot of Brahms's carefully gauged contrast simply failed to materialise.

The faster of the Etudes-tableaux by Rachmaninov were more blustery than focused, and it was the slowest of his selection (Op. 39 No. 2 in A minor) which was the most sensitively done.

Liszt's Apres un lecture de Dante (the so-called Dante Sonata), a tumbling, arresting showpiece if ever there was one, rather ran from his grasp. The cutting grotesquerie of Prokofiev's early Sarcasms was altogether better served, though in time a touch more relaxation, even expansiveness, will surely be achieved without compromising the music's snarl or bite.