Daniel Barenboim, 66, was busy last week, even by tireless-polymath standards. He ventured a new Elliott Carter concerto and joined James Levine for piano duets in Boston and New York. He gave a recital in Philadelphia. He conducted Wagner’s Tristan at the Met and prepared a concert with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for the United Nations. He also found time for interviews, in which he mentioned that he was suffering a painful bout of gout.

And there he was on Sunday, playing a little Liszt – OK, a lot of Liszt – at the massive Met. No-one had ventured a solo programme in the 4,000-seat opera-house since Vladimir Horowitz practiced his eccentric wizardry in 1983.