Guitarist Williams still showing pluck at 62

Guitar recital by John Williams

Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Last night only

Can a John Williams guitar recital ever let one down?

It seems impossible, as his performance last night at the Culture Centre demonstrated. He may be 62, but his technique is still near impeccable, and his musical sense still merits superlatives.

There is such an effortless poetry in his playing, in which melodies of silken grace soar out from between or above pearly harmonic figurations, which can turn a lone man with a guitar on a vast stage into the transfixing emotional centre of a filled concert hall.