He opened with a grave and solemn performance of the Bach- Busoni choral prelude “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” (“I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ”). His soft but assured style drew glowing, organ-like tones from the keyboard, with a big crescendo toward the end that rose and fell without a trace of percussiveness.

Alexander Scriabin composed his Sonata No. 3 in his late 20s, before the Russian pianist- composer’s mind and music departed for unchartered territory. Unlike what was to come later, this work’s melodic and harmonic vocabulary sounded similar to what his late-19th century colleagues were composing.

Carroccia gave a rousing performance, without over-personalizing the music, nor engaging in the sort of rushed, emotionally supercharged playing with which some pianists distort this sort of piece. He showed respect for the rhythmic and melodic structures, with his big tone and assured technique drawing forth the music’s Chopinesque romanticism, its bursts of melody and climactic passages in octaves.

The bass figures in the Andante came off with a smoky allure, and in the last movement, he drew maximum force and emotion from the sudden rhapsodic melody that rose over rumbling bass passages.