Review from recital in Leicester Mercury:

Graduating from Clare College, Cambridge in 2008, Richard Uttley is a rising star as a recital pianist.

In 2010, he won first prize in the Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition.

Richard began a short recital with three waltzes by Chopin. Each was played clarity and feeling bringing out the simplicity of the pieces.

In contrast, Maurice Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales were of a more complex texture.

The opening Modéré was a torrid display of fingerwork, transforming to sentiment, simplicity, humour and passion as the waltzes delighted the audience.

Richard presented the many moods with ease and an evident passion.

Richard Uttley has a huge empathy with the music he plays, his musical standards are of the highest order and his understanding of a piece brings it off the page with great maturity.

Suite No. 5 in E was a delightful display of Handel’s harmonious and melodic composition. Beautifully phrased with subtle ornamentation, I cannot imagine a finer performance.

The frenetic Air and Variations, more commonly known as The Harmonious Blacksmith were played with energy and poise including perfectly executed fast arpeggios.

Richard concluded his recital with Beethoven’s restless Sonata in A, demonstrating a tour de force of emotion, exquisite quiet passages, in parts passionate and exuberant, but above all truly musical!

A concert which displayed many facets of this young man’s extraordinary talent.