One could believe the present is an age of perfect pianists. The evidence for such a view — that today’s paragons not only never make mistakes but revel in transcendent musicianship — was already abundant. But having just heard in quick succession Evgeny Kissin at the Barbican, Bertrand Chamayou at Wigmore Hall, Piotr Anderszewski at the Barbican, and, at Wigmore Hall again, Igor Levit, I find it hard to resist the notion that pianism is at its historical peak. One may choose one approach or sound character over another, but fundamentally these performers are staggering, virtually unimprovable.
The contrast between the two Barbican recitalists was, in fact, pronounced. After the rich, rounded tone and supervirtuosity of Kissin in Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and 10 Rachmaninov