Packed to the gunwales with adults and children, this was an audience you would only normally expect for artists of the stature of Chinese pianist Lang Lang or local star violinist Ray Chen, and the excitement in the house was palpable long before the 36-year-old virtuoso was led on stage.

For the next two hours Nobu showed his phenomenal memory and talents in a fearless program which ranged over some of the repertoire’s behemoths, from Ludwig van Beethoven’s The Tempest Sonata, through some finger-busting Franz Liszt and no less challenging favourites by Maurice Ravel, ending in a bravura set of jazz-tinged Études by Nikolai Kapustin in which he channelled Rachmaninov at one moment and that other great blind pianist Art Tatum the next.

I haven’t heard the Beethoven sonata played better at a concert. Nobu plumbed the drama of the opening with its mysterious, spacious chords and alternating explosive and quiet passages, allowing it to build with all-round virtuosity while paying attention to its inner voices.

He has matured since he was last here for a recital in 2017 when he had a tendency to rush and overstate on occasions. Here he allowed the Adagio plenty of air taking it quite slowly and smoothly negotiating the cross-hand passages. He gave the Allegretto finale an irresistible sway and a note-perfect sense of urgency and surging energy.

The three excerpts from Liszt’s Venice and Naples section of Years of Pilgrimage made for an exciting close to the first half – the Gondoliera a shimmering miracle of filigree fingering, the thundering left hand riffs of Canzone making the listeners sit forward in their seats and the rapid repeat notes of the Tarantella and its crazy dance bringing a roar from Nobu’s fans.

After the high octane content of the first set, Ravel’s Minuet on the Name of Haydn filled the auditorium like a cool breeze, with Nobu bringing out its airy charm. He then settled back into Pavane pour une infante défunte, playing simply, rather than elegiacally, as the composer preferred.

The glitter cascades of Jeux d’eau set the scene neatly for the final work on the program, Kapustin’s Eight Concert Études, composed in 1984. Each piece is technically challenging and they reflect the Soviet composer’s interest in jazz, although there is no improvisation involved.

The audience couldn’t contain itself after the opening helter-skelter Prelude with its driving bass and unpredictable syncopations, erupting into applause which Nobu acknowledged with a bow and smile. After the dreamy second etude – Duke Ellington could easily have written that tune – there were more incendiary devices in Toccatina before the all-out boogie of Shuitka– think Tatum jamming with Jerry Lee Lewis!

After this set Nobu, ever the showman, pulled out not one but four encores, before finally shutting the piano lid with a shrug to let us know it was time to go home. First came a lovely account of Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune (aahs from the fans); then Liszt’s La Campanella (a huge roar); next Nobu’s self-composed take on Waltzing Matilda (laughter) and, finally, Frédéric Chopin’s Revolutionary Prélude (gasps).

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