Combining powerful energy with delicate poetry, Edinburgh-based Steven Osborne is among the most renowned of today’s pianists – and a regular visitor to International Festival recitals for many years. He brings a remarkable emotional honesty to his playing that leaves listeners in awe.

Admired for his versatility and adventurousness, he executes four contrasting pieces that are especially close to his heart – and which he has lived with and performed over many years.

Beethoven’s final Piano Sonata, Op 111, might have perplexed listeners when it was written, but it’s now appreciated as a work of transcendental vision, moving from defiant drama to a disarming, otherworldly serenity. Likewise, Schubert packs enormous drama into his miniature Impromptu No 1, which opens the programme.

In between, Osborne unleashes the vast waves of resonance in US experimental composer George Crumb’s awe-inspiring Processional, a piece full of rich harmonies that the pianist has championed in recent years. Earlier in his career, Osborne made a speciality of the piano music of Michael Tippett; his Second Piano Sonata is a whirling dance of melodies and textures.

Supported by Gavin and Kate Gemmell