THE risks of playing the solo violin music of Bach in the cathedral-like acoustic of St John's Kirk are many.

The sound swells to fill the huge space, almost as though it is being massively amplified: on the one hand, detail can get smudged or lost in reverberation and, on the other, every slip of intonation or rough-hewn note can be exaggerated to the point

of distortion.

Austrian violinist, Ernst Kovacic, in the final appearance on Saturday morning of his substantial residency at this year's Perth Festival, by and large dealt brilliantly with the

potential problems.

In a programme buttressed by two monumental Bach edifices - the Partita in E major and the great D Minor Chaconne - he struck a typically satisfactory balance between the architectural and the humane. His unerring sense of structure underlined at once the great pillars and building blocks which support the music, as well as (by a marvellous control of contrasting dynamics) highlighting the filigree decorative work that winds around the columns of

the music. And then - crucially - he humanises the whole thing with the intimacy of his playing, with myriad contrasts in colour, volume and momentum. He plays it like he's telling a story or drawing a sketch. And the man is a marvellous weaver of tales.

And this fact also characterised the (slightly altered) central section of his programme with a rich, passion-drenched performance of HK Gruber's Four Pieces, and a characterful reading of Werner Pirchner's gritty, splintery, exasperated and reflective Good News from the Ziller Valley, an earthy instrumental tale about the revolt of the folk tradition against touristic kitsch.