This recital is about counterpoint: not so much within the pieces (despite the two fugues), but between the pieces.

There are two main themes which both hold everything together and which create friction – after all, counterpoint suggests opposition as well as the delight and ingenuity of a musical jigsaw.

Firstly 'in Paris, not French': all the composers except Fauré were immigrants despite their strong Parisian connections, and they each reveal different sides of the French capital's musical personality. Cortot, the educational (he founded the Ecole Normale); Fauré, the complex poetic world of nonchalance as a mask for intense emotion; Franck, the church with its incense and mysticism; Copland, the modernism where jazz and the legacy of the Ballet Russe cut along the edges of the boulevards; and Chopin, the 19th century salon, whispering its secrets amidst rustling gowns and flickering candles.

The second theme is ‘A Tribute to Alfred Cortot’: all the repertoire except the Copland had strong personal connections with the great Swiss pianist. Cortot’s influence - through his highly idiosyncratic playing, his vast catalogue of recordings, his work as an editor and writer, and his numerous students – was immense, and continues fifty years after his death.

There are several additional motives throughout, both in concord and in collision. Bach, Fauré and Franck each earned their livings on the organ bench. The titles of Fauré's pieces owe everything to Chopin, the title of Franck's owes everything to Bach. The Copland and Chopin works could not be more different in the way they treat the piano. Copland uses the keyboard in an angular, percussive, vertical way, whereas Chopin’s style is all about vocal lines stretching across horizons of contoured lyricism. There is the resemblance of Copland's cell-like theme to the great C sharp minor Fugue from Book 1 of the Well Tempered Clavier … And there is the veiled hint of B-A-C-H in the shape of the opening of Franck's Prelude.

But beyond all of this, each piece on the programme is an example of the composer at the height of his powers, with a unique style and sound-world.

It has been said that the gaps between the notes are as important as the notes themselves, and this is also true of the gaps between the pieces in a recital. The change of mood and tonality between the Bach and the Fauré Nocturne, or between the Copland and the Chopin Nocturne, is an example of the limitless variety of music language, and of its power to 'sing' where speech fails or falters.