‘Schiff stands with perhaps only a handful of pianists in his total achievement of the most severe beauty,” reported the Philadelphia Inquirer after András Schiff had given a concert in the city. The description could apply to Schiff’s recital, given at the end of this year’s Oxford Philomusica International Piano Festival, of which he is the President.

But the first thing that strikes you about Schiff is how matter-of-fact he is. He walks on, bows unostentatiously, sits down, and gets on with it. There is no faffing about with adjustments to his piano stool, or his shirt cuffs. Here it was straight into a delicately poised account of the opening bars of Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata. As the first movement unfolded, however, that “severe beauty” became evident, as Schiff’s left hand brought out solemn, insistent chords. In the later two movements, scrupulous attention to clarity and tempi were particularly noticeable — no wonder Schiff’s performances of Bach’s keyboard works are so widely admired.

Two Schumann works next, beginning with his Sonata No 1. Schiff emphasized Schumann’s use of the lively Spanish fandango to give the first movement drive, while a feeling of intimacy was brought out in the second movement, entitled Aria. Then a change of scale, as the Scherzo and Finale received epic, and sometimes angular treatment. The following Book 1 of Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze opened with a Lebhaft that was radiant and sparkling in the right hand, while on the left, more weighty themes were suggested — a pattern that varied appropriately as Schiff moved briskly thorough each of the following 17 ‘character’ pieces. It all seemed appropriate to the rhyme that headed the first edition of the score: “Everywhere we go we meet both luck and woe.”

Finally, in a recital that was both challenging and exhilarating, Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata received a magisterial performance, full of weight, depth, and explosions of pianistic power.