My first encounter with Jan Lisiecki was around a decade ago at The Proms doing Schumann’s Piano Concerto. He’s matured a lot, being of teenage years back then.

In a stupendous evening at Wigmore, he presented an entire programme of preludes, spanning well over two hundred years of music history. I would rarely rush to hear Chopin, though his playing is event worthy. The Prelude in D flat is one of many famous pieces from the Polish composer, a fine start to an exquisite concert. Chopin’s sincerity beams through here, Lisiecki’s subtle hand stand out.

With no pause for applause, the first half whips through a broad pallet of delights. The two iconic preludes from Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier Book I, were peppered well at both ends. Rachmaninov meet Lisiecki with big, beefy handwork as if a giant had written it (the composers large hands are well known). Glossy highlights from Morceaux de fantaisie and Preludes in D & G minor added to the pot, I’d say this player has some very good handling of Rachmaninoff, perhaps as sharp as his Chopin. Whilst the Szymanowski offering may have had less appeal, I found them to be satisfying, the performance as ever finely formulated.

For me the most wonderful moments came with Messiaen and Górecki, two of my favourites. Messiaen’s early Preludes are a rich cocktails of his inspirations and precursors to what would follow. Plainchant is a clear point of reference, the latter of a dove’s wing the evocative, Debussy like opener. The erratic nature wrung out of the piano, only becomes more eye bulging as Messiaen went on. Górecki’s Preludes Op. 1, were two of the four he wrote, that had a disturbing and gurgling power typical of his younger years. Tender moments are few and far between, more evident are the hellish furies and earth shattering bashing. Then at its end at break neck speed…Bach. Genius.

The second half was the entirety of Chopin’s 24 Preludes. Each of Preludes we heard in the previous half of the night are back here, even more sweet and filled with an openness. A range of emotions are present, joyous rapture, pain and regret, determination and pride. Liniecki was a total triumph, moments of contortion upon his face, the trills and cutting melodies child’s play. An encore of a Schumann Romanza only touched me more.

It’s rare to see talent like this often. His youth is also tantamount to this, with the prospect of future playing and recording highly enticing.