Starting off at the Royal Academy of Music, Dutch pianist Aidan Mikdad has easily made a name for himself. How easily he made mincemeat of both composers in this fine hour afternoon concert.

The lighter side of Robert Schumann is evident in his Carnaval, a delightful multi movement thrill. Even name dropping a few fellow composers: Chopin and Paganini, the whole feat had the thrill of the joyful ride that teleports us back to the era it was written. Aidan fused well with the many moments and made it look so easy. I imagine these passages proving to be hard work, the winking eye and fairground attraction of the whole piece still having the utmost charm all these years later. This is well needed today.

We’d see Scriabin follow, the Russian born composer who has a cult . I expected a bit more of a storm from his Piano Sonata No. 3 in F sharp major, perhaps I went in with too many assumptions about the composer. Saying this, Aidan proudly showed off his skills in the work. Here a lot of vigour is needed, much frantic action aside daring compositional techniques, bold for Scriabin’s era. Though not my complete cup of tea, I marvelled at Aidan’s technique here. Not essentially sounding Russian, more akin to impressionism and expressionism that would follow in art. Curiously in four movements, each seemingly getting more intense as the rhapsodic flow unveils itself with impressive effect.

Aidan is a pianist to watch out for