Big hand for soloist and her conductor; Arts Diary - Philip Key.

Byline: Lew Baxter

CLASSICAL folklore relates that Rachmaninov had huge hands and subsequently his concertos are often a nightmare for those less well-endowed.

But the much-lauded and petite Canadian pianist Naida Cole is quite phlegmatic about tackling his Piano Concerto No 2 during her debut as a soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra this week.

The concert will also feature the conducting debut with the orchestra of Edinburgh's rising star, Garry Walker, who in just a few short years has most determinedly stamped his mark on the genre, particularly after winning the sixth Leeds Conductors competition two years ago.

Within months, much to his surprise, he was in London taking the place of the indisposed Daniele Gatti in the Royal Philharmonic's Orchestra opening concert at the Barbican.

He's recently been appointed an associate conductor with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra and last summer worked as an assistant to the celebrated Pierre Boulez at the Aix en Provence Festival.

And in January he returned to conduct the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie in Germany after receiving considerable accolades for his first efforts working under Steven Sloane on an earlier tour of Europe.

Yet 27-year-old Mr Walker reveals that he stumbled into conducting almost by default, taking up the baton at the suggestion of numerous friends and in particular Edward Warren, the former principal bassoonist with the Liverpool Phil who, when Garry was still a student at the Royal Northern College of Music, urged him to consider taking it quite seriously.

It all began in a sort of convoluted way, it transpires, when the chamber orchestra at Manchester University - from where Walker graduated with first class honours - was seeking a conductor. However, it seems most of the applicants weren't really up to scratch.

"It was suggested I should apply for the job. I did and suddenly I was there, " explained Garry, who began his musical career aged seven learning the cello.

It might be worth mentioning at this juncture, though, that he had studied conducting with Warren and Timothy Reynish at the RNCM and in May 1999 picked up the first distinction every awarded by the college when he completed his Junior Fellowship in conducting.

He makes his debut with the Phil this week - a lot of whom he says are former contemporaries from the Northern College of Music or just good friends he's got to know within the business - with Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila overture followed by the Rachmaninov concerto, and wrapping up with Tchaikovsky's emotionally stirring Symphony No 6 in B minor, better known as the Pathetique.

"I have been most impressed with this tremendous orchestra and it is a great honour for me to conduct them." commented Garry.

His modesty actually belies a talent which is already being recognised on the national and international circuit and he's already chalked up appearances with such distinguished orchestras such as English Northern Philharmonia, the Halle, the Bochum Symfoniker, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool: The Classic Series - Garry Walker, conductor;

Naida Cole, piano - Wednesday and Thursday, September 26 and 27.

CAPTION(S):

PHIL DEBUTANTS: Garry Walker and, right, Naida Cole