Maurice Ravel's gorgeous and evocative 'La Valse' is recognised as one of the most difficult pieces written for the piano. It was originally conceived and composed for orchestra, but the composer himself later wrote this version of the work for the piano.

Pianist Andrei Gugnin is only 19 years old, but, extraordinarily, his youth was no obstacle to his complete mastery of this piece. And what an achievement!

Not only were the technical challenges gruelling, but it was also written to make an important statement, and in doing so, to demand an interpretation from the performer that I would have imagined to be far beyond the experience of such a young person.

The teenage Russian musician was performing on Saturday evening at the City Hall Theatre, his appearance concluding the musical offerings of this year's Bermuda Festival.

The French impressionist composer wrote 'La Valse' to demonstrate that the demise of the Austrian and German cultures resulted in the Great War (1914-1918), and the reason for that collapse was the neglect of those societies' economic and hereditary leaderships.

At the time Ravel composed this piece, with the experience of his wartime service under his belt, he was looking back about 75 years.

Understanding that sense of the past, and to imbue it with a sense of foreboding — knowing, having experienced them, what the results will be, is a sense that develops with maturity.

Despite Gugnin's youth, he captured that sense of presentiment, the 'swirling clouds' that Ravel himself refers to in his notes on the score, and: 'as the clouds scatter, one sees an immense hall peopled with a whirling crowd....'

The audience did not need Ravel's note to understand exactly what he was aiming for, thanks to Gugnin's dazzling performance. Underlying his brilliant interpretive quality was a technical precision that was breathtaking. I thought it particularly exceptional that he was able to produce simultaneously, and wrap together, entirely different dynamic expression, such is the power of his musicality.

This performance was as close to perfect as it is possible to get. Indeed, it was a tour de force!

The programme for Saturday evening would have been an extremely challenging one for any pianist. Gugnin chose to follow the Ravel with pieces described elsewhere as 'intense miniatures' from Olivier Messiaen's great epic, 'Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus': the mysterious and thoughtful 'Premi|0xe8|re Communion de la Vierge', and the joyful and colourful 'Regard de l'Esprit de Joie'.

These pieces certainly called for Gugnin's precision, and his interpretative care. In fact, it was difficult at times to listen to the performance, because of the temptation to allow oneself to be distracted by his mesmerising technique.

Gugnin then, once again, chose an exceptionally difficult and painterly piece, and once again, by Ravel: 'Gaspard de la Nuit: Trois Poems pour Piano d'apres Aloysius Bertrand' is based on three poems by Bertrand: 'Ondine', 'Le Gibet' and 'Scarbo', which each evoke quite different pictures.

Gugnin's attention to every phrase and his technical execution of this piece resulted in a performance that was as evocative as the composer could have wished. The graceful, watery beauty of the impressionist style presents a fluid scene entirely appropriate for 'Ondine', who is a water fairy in this poem, while 'Le Gibet' was flawlessly expressed in a dark and sinister rendering of this piece. The trio concludes with the flighty, very fast 'Scarbo', who ultimately flits off with no warning at all!

After the intermission, Gugnin returned to the stage to perform Modeste Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. Unlike the works in the first half, this piece is very famous indeed. It was another challenge for the young pianist, to perform something that many in the audience would have heard several times before. And once again, he exceeded all expectations. It seemed this piece gained a vitality, thanks to the young man's precision, and a degree of confidence that belied his age.

Whether it was the troubadour, the chicks or the children, the pictures were interpreted masterfully and clearly, while each return to the famous 'Promenade' was always unexpectedly fresh.

The audience certainly appreciated how extraordinary this young pianist was, and at the end of the evening, gave him a very well deserved standing ovation. His encore was probably as difficult as anything else he had played that evening.

Implausibly, Gugnin is still a student — according to the programme notes, he is studying at the Moscow Conservatory, after attending the Moscow Conservatory for Gifted Children. He has already won numerous prizes, and so it seems that it is a foregone conclusion that one day, we will all say — 'I remember when he performed at the Bermuda Festival!'