Single-handed Superstar

Following his stunning debut at last year's BBC Proms, one-handed pianist Nicholas McCarthy tells Claire Jackson all about repertoire, technique and challenging narrow-minded attitudes

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There's a trepidatious growl from the contrabassoon. Soon, it is joined by French horns, strings and timpani; the sound rumbles, snowballs - and then: abrupt silence. The piano sings into the stillness: a bold, reflective melody that swells with virtuosic pride. Ravel's simmering, shimmering Piano Concerto for the Left Hand is beloved for its keyboard athleticism, filigree passages and dark evocations. It has been widely recorded and is a BBC Proms fixture: recent performances include those by Joanna MacGregor (1990), Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (2010), Marc-André Hamelin (2015) and Tamara Stefanovic (2018). But it wasn't until Nicholas McCarthy's performance with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mark Wigglesworth in 2025 that the concerto was once more played as it has always been intended - by a one-handed pianist.

Wearing a dark jacket flecked with gold embroidery - designed to highlight, not hide - the soloist's limb difference, McCarthy dances across the keys. Watching on iPlayer provides a bird's-eye view of the concert grand nestled in the orchestral horseshoe, and depicts the ambitious scale of this work alongside its quieter intimacy. Ravel composed the piece throughout 1929 and '30, working concurrently on the Piano Concerto in G. That work feels lighter in texture and style than its left-hand counterpart, with Ravel clearly revelling in the unusual brief. The commission came from Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who had lost his right arm during the First World War. Wittgenstein, the older brother of Ludwig, the philosopher, and a member of one of Europe's wealthiest families, gave the British premiere at the Proms in 1932.