Rachmaninov/ Ravel: Piano Sonata No 1/ Sonatine & Miroirs – review

The sensational young Dutch pianist Hannes Minnaar , international prize-winner and recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellowship but not yet known here, displays his extravagant gifts in this debut disc of Rachmaninov's weighty Sonata No 1 and Ravel's Sonatine and Miroirs . Minnaar's virtuosity needs no comment: we expect that. His musical intelligence, sense of line and structure, delicacy, subtlety of texture and discipline set him apart. His Ravel is muscular and sparkling, his Rachmaninov glowing, meticulous and fervent. He is also a chamber musician, having played with the likes of Mischa Maisky and Janine Jansen as well as his own recently established Van Baerle Trio . Watch out for him.