András Schiff: A Schubert & Beethoven Celebration, review, Wigmore Hall: 'extraordinary and intense'

András Schiff is no stranger to playing Schubert at the Wigmore Hall, but this extraordinary event – first concert of the pianist's brief "Schubert & Beethoven Celebration" – communicated a level of innermost intensity that made it seem like the grail for which all his performances had been searching. What set it most obviously apart was Schiff's deployment of a fortepiano from Schubert's Vienna. For a musician who has previously railed against the "globalisation" of modern piano playing, this period sound provides more than just an alternative: the muted tone actually seems to suit Schiff's musical personality, and the result here was a rare communion of player and instrument.

The instrument, now owned by Schiff himself and normally deposited on loan with the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, has a distinguished history. A beautiful Biedermeier artefact clad in warm walnut, it is the work of the Viennese piano manufacturer Franz Brodmann and dates from c. 1820 – the start of the decade in which Schubert died. Once owned by the Austro-Hungarian imperial family, the fortepiano went with the last emperor, Karl I, into Swiss exile in 1919.

For Schiff, the small, dusky sound is clearly not an end in itself but a means to an end: a fuller understanding of Schubertian intimacy. The instrument is, of course, much less powerful than a modern concert grand, and its hushed tone positively draws the listener in (the Wigmore audience was, mercifully, on a quiet setting). Its delicacy was demonstrated here when, only a few bars into the second sonata on the programme, a string slipped out of tune and Schiff had to stop while a technician came on to fix things; it all felt like part of the show.

In the Sonata in G, D894, the introverted opening took on an almost confessional tone as Schiff unfolded the music with gentle, musing love. With its unblended registers, not homogenised as on a modern grand, there is little danger of the weaker bass overpowering anything, but still the pianist has to work hard to sustain a phrase, and Schiff traced long spans. The delicate Ländler episode of the Menuetto sounded like a distant shepherd's pipe, and the finale had swirling lightness.

Even by the elevated standards it usually inspires, Schubert's last Sonata (in B flat, D960) took on a rare, devotional quality here. The slow movement's ineffable melancholy came across under Schiff's caressing hands, the scherzo was all tinkling delicacy, and main rondo theme was amiability itself. Everything about this performance – from the music itself to Schiff's own presence – felt transfigured.

Further concerts in Schiff's "Schubert & Beethoven Celebration": January 13 and January 15. Tickets: 020 7935 2141; wigmore-hall.org.uk