On Sunday night I had the pleasure of once again hearing Stefan Cassomenos perform to a packed Medley Hall salon. The concert served as a test-run for a series of concerts Cassomenos will be giving in Germany following his Second Grand Prize in the International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition last year. He was pleased to announce that he has been expressly invited to perform Carl Vine’s Toccatissimo, the idea being that while audiences were interested in a little contemporary Australian music, they wouldn’t want more than five minutes of it! The piece is frightfully clever, moving from sweeping gestures across the piano worthy of Prokofiev, to ticklish pointillistic passages, all while being invaded by awkward, tumbling, loping themes.

Partial Durations is a Matthew Lorenzon/RealTime joint project.