Ex oriente lux - this classic adage has accounted for a great deal in the performance of piano music for a long time now. After all, the light of pianism shines from the East, and although Western Europe can boast a galaxy of outstanding artists, a comparison of the numbers is highly symptomatic. In that classification, it is pianists from Russia, Japan, Korea and China who lead the way. The starting lists in the Chopin Competition over the last three decades reveal one more striking fact: budding young pianists from Germany and Austria appear very rarely. Yet in the 2nd International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments, there were two of them: Jannik Truong, representing Germany, and the Austrian Martin Nöbauer. I could not escape the reflection that this highly talented and remarkably sensitive 26-year-old artist was single-handedly defending the honour of Western European pianism.

It should be stressed that Nöbauer presents a mature and highly personal pianism, eschewing glitter and facile effects. He offers audiences reflection and distance, a search for unusual timbres and unique moods. It is not always easy, but it is worth meeting his art half-way, allowing oneself to be borne along that tortuous, but fascinating path and to discover a land of exceptional sonorities.