At a piano recital Daniel Barenboim certainly knows how to acknowledge applause. He stands almost dazzled, like a freezing man basking in the sun's rays. He warms himself upon those behind his piano as he does with the vaster audience in front. Everyone comes away satisfied.

He would also receive an ovation these days even if he didn't play a note. As he sat down to launch his latest Beethoven marathon - 32 sonatas in eight concerts, the last on February 17, and all played from memory - he wasn't just a musician. He was Barenboim the world citizen and philosopher, the East-West negotiator, the planet's only known holder of both Israeli and Palestine passports. He was also, after the closing ceremony, the worthy recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society's prestigious Gold Medal, launched in 1870 to commemorate the centenary of Beethoven's birth.

Heartfelt communication: that's the thread that links his multifarious activities. The lines were open as soon as he pranced into Op 2 No 1, the first sonata of all. Here, as in the 18th sonata, Barenboim showed himself the perfect dramatist, forging ahead, lingering, or pirouetting decoratively, all as the notes suggested. With the first movement of No 18 he built a gripping game of hesitant questions and assertive answers. With the second he added impish humour; with the finale, out came bustle, clatter, cavernous pauses. Marvellously alert and mature playing, in all colours of the rainbow.

Then came the mighty Hammerklavier sonata. Quality control slipped a bit. Just when the music's tapestry needed extra clarity and cohesion a rampaging touch arrived. Sometimes Barenboim's fingers and feet became worryingly blunt instruments, tumbling through the turmoil, shrieking out the dynamics. When Beethoven turned simply pensive the penetrating artistry returned. The cleansing adagio, cradled in half-lights, was a spellbinder even with the accompaniment of baby noises from the audience. And before the fugue jostled in, the finale's slow introduction radiated a magical sense of new beginnings, new hope.

Coming from an artist of such intellectual reach, this recital left us with a conundrum: the more modest the sonata, the firmer Barenboim's touch. Yet there wasn't one of us who wouldn't rush to the remaining recitals to see how the drama played out.

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