Pianist Meets Mechanical Challenges With Style

Expect big things of Laura Mikkola, the Finnish pianist who made a good impression in her Hollywood Bowl debut five years ago and returned Wednesday night for a first local recital, in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School. At 28, Mikkola has all the tools of her trade assembled and polished. Moreover, her musicality and versatility are remarkable.

As she showed on her recent first recording, the pianist excels in several different styles. On that CD, she impressed with large works by Haydn and Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. On Wednesday night, Mikkola played Chopin, Liszt, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Ravel, delineating each style astutely and with affection, and dispatching all mechanical challenges with aplomb.

At mid-program, her expertise brought out the best musical features of both Liszt’s “Spanish Rhapsody” and Salonen’s 2-year-old “Dichotomie,” works of great contrast but similar, and extreme, technical demands.

Liszt’s old chestnut has seldom been given such loving and manicured care. Every passage glowed, every trill sparkled, and the entirety emerged both serious and playful. “Dichotomie”--last heard here on the Piano Spheres series in October--thrilled the listener anew, its two halves, one Boulezian, the other Debussyan, complementing each other perfectly

In Chopin’s G-minor Ballade and Ravel’s “Jeux d’eau,” both utterly convincing stylistically, Mikkola made all the musical points with panache. Only the closing work on the program, Prokofiev’s Eighth Sonata, lacked its full sense of compulsion and vehemence, despite her conscientious and resourceful playing.