Classical Music Awards: Instrumentalist of the Year - Andras Schiff: Artists strike triumphant note on big awards night

'IF YOU play the piano well, then your whole body is playing and your fingers are directed by higher forces.' Thus a musician whose scrupulous insights and unshowy skills have won him a special place in the respect of connoisseurs. Born in Budapest in 1953, he made his mark in the mid-Seventies at piano competitions in Moscow and Leeds. Bach, Mozart and Schubert are at the heart of his repertoire, complemented by Haydn and Bartok. His playing of Bach has done more than anybody since Glenn Gould to maintain the composer's place in piano recitals when the revival of the harpsichord had seemed to be taking over. In 1989 he founded Musiktage Mondsee, an annual week-long festival of chamber music at which he also appears as an accompanist. Currently he is performing a cycle of Schubert piano sonatas at the Wigmore Hall, London.

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