THIS was a very special evening, where all of Philip Glass’s 20 etudes were played by five pianists, including the legendary modernist composer himself.

They’re a sublime collection of studies for the piano, each a short yet intensely revealing exercise in contemplation.

Glass’s performance of Etudes 1 and 2 laid bare their defiant chords and the charm of straying, melancholic notes. He set the emotional temperature for the works that followed as he offered up his own highly unique musical signatures. Without affectation, Vikingur Olafsson revealed the landscape of Etudes 5 and 6 by responding to each delicate phrase while remaining sensitive to their dramatic rhythmic patterns.

There was no holding back as he explored Glass’s panoply of deep and emotional harmonic structures and the pulsing, at times dancelike, nature of music which wouldn’t be out of place relayed over a sound system.

Etudes 15 and 18 had Timo Andres totally connected and there was assured control from Claire Hammond in Etudes 11 and 12 in the transition from the purity of earlier works to a darker, more dramatic environment.

Maki Namekawa, who originally recorded these most enigmatic of piano works on Glass’s own Orange Mountain music label in 2014, thrillingly responded to the complexity of Etudes 19 and 20. The potency of the entire evening found a triumphant conclusion in that performance.

Review by Peter Lindley