Praise to Bromsgrove Concerts for their promoting enterprise, praise to pianist Stephen Gutman for his devoted advocacy, and praise, too, to Godfrey Southerton for his heroic page-turning efforts.
But it is surely significant that so much of the music on offer in Friday's programme of contemporary piano music has not in fact found its way into the permanency of print. The evening could certainly be described as "stimulating", but stimulating of irritation instead of joyous wonderment.
Gutman's expertise in music which makes such sustained intellectual as well as quirky technical demands upon the soloist is undeniable, and a good proportion of his recital brought some genuine rewards.
John Cage's The Seasons, with its oriental influences finding common ground with Debussy, and its grim, inexorable picture of desolation in Fall, drew fluid, well-judged pianism from Gutman.
And Howard Skempton's Campanella had delightful resonances (such resourceful pedalling), the still moods of these miniatures charged with emotional overtones.
Then came two sides of Michael Finnissy: five of his huge series of tangos, generally superfluous except to their various dedicatees, and two Gershwin arrangements, full of personality, and approached by Finnissy with all rightful humility.
Two pieces by Morgan Hayes Puppet Theatre and Three Pieces for Solo Piano combined busy jaggedness with studious explorations of keyboard resources, but works by Luke Stoneham Plume and Mercury in Retrograde, though a tour de force of co-ordination, reminded me of the odd visiting child vandalising my own piano.
And Paul Whitty's Take This Personally had an allusiveness more appropriate to a name-that-tune pub quiz.
