Gabriela Montero review – radiant renderings of postcard Spain with an excursion into the Beatles

Alexandra Coghlan
Milton Court, London The Venezuelan pianist was mercurial and dazzling in this Spanish-themed recital including Chopin, Scarlatti and Albéniz adding improvisational mastery with a Purcellian take on Here Comes the Sun Mozart did it. Liszt, famously, too. You could hardly stop Bach and Messiaen – even Boulez dabbled. But at some stage improvisation disappeared from the concert platform; experimentation became something to do privately and in advance rather than in public and in real time. Unless