This bold contrapuntal selection was further explained by a jocose, eloquent Downs, who seemed more relaxed than he did a year ago. He vividly explained Kabalevsky's change in perspective in the lapse between his preludes and his later «Recitative and rondo (Op. 84)», and turned to similarly evocative imagery to describe Bach's first parts of BWV 830 as a hamburger, a self-contained selection that could be digested almost as a prelude itself. Mr. Down's creativity is not limited to the ivories!
His closing piece was Schubert «Impromptu N.º 3 ( Op. 90), a piece where he seemed more subdued in the off-script interpretative risks, and approached it comme il faut. The encore was an abridged version of the prélude from Debussy's «Pour le piano (L. 95)».
At the concert's end, Mr. Downs was kind enough to stand at the exit to send off his well-wishers, which I thought to be a rather classy thing to do, and I appreciated as an effort to connect with Christ Church's nearly one hundred attendees.