Music: Sequeira Costa Wigmore Hall, London

To play both sets of Chopin's Studies in a recital is risky. Whatever later composers demanded further of pianists and the instrument, these 24 pieces still establish the technical and expressive possibilities of the modern grand, and though they were not designed as a group, they make a profoundly satisfying programme.

The Portuguese pianist, Sequeira Costa, has a weighty pedigree: his teachers included Jacques Fevrier, Marguerite Long and Edwin Fischer. His own pupils include Artur Pizarro. On Easter Sunday morning, he had the piano put as far to the audience's right as it would go, so that he was sitting bang in the middle of the stage. This seemed to produce a gain in clarity, although Costa is, in any case, a player whose articulation is clean and whose pedalling is unobtrusive.

The first two Studies of Op 10 set the form he would sustain. The hair- raising C major piece was in strict tempo, not only with strongly defined finger-work in the right hand, but spiked with purposeful accentuation. The A minor Study is not just a test of technique, but of morale and stamina: Costa took it pretty near the almost impossible metronome marking and, what's more, kept it in strict time, without cheating, though he gave extra pointed delicacy to the recap - a bonus he brought to several Studies later on. Unexpectedly, he made No 7 quite loud, though the right hand fluttered from the very beginning rather than at the point Chopin marked "delicato". The harp-like No 11 was very easy and natural, though Costa rolled the chords from the bottom instead of in both hands simultaneously (it's arguable which Chopin wanted), while the first of the Op 25 set (traditionally, if less appropriately, nicknamed "The Harp") was a model of how to control the softly rippling texture between the far-flung notes defining the bass and forming the melody in the treble. This, after a particularly interesting account of the "Revolutionary" Study, because of its highly detailed and expressive left hand, was the point at which my critical scepticism finally cracked: what pianist today, I wondered, could do better justice to these pieces? Some record company should get Mr Costa in the studio right away (in fact, this recital could have been taped, with only a few split notes to spoil one's enjoyment of repeated listenings). There were so many points of accentuation not usually heard, yet none of them was contrived; each piece was thought through and felt with complete conviction. Altogether an ear-opener.