Work: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses: Benediction de Dieu dans la Solitude, S 173 no. 3

Kozhukhin stamped his authority and musicality on this lunchtime recital from the opening notes of the Haydn Sonata to the final fleeting phrase of his second encore.

Despite an abundance of virtuosic Liszt pieces and such force in the Appassionata that he almost fell off his chair at the end, what was most impressive about Behzod Abduraimov in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Tuesday was the way he handled the softer parts.

In a setting Liszt himself would have approved of – the grand hall, the plush red velvet swags and tails, the full nine feet of gleaming Steinway stretched across a stage bathed in a curious blue light, the eager Prommers craning in expectation – Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin celebrated the composer’s 200th birthday in a recital of coruscating virtuosity and extreme pianism.