Andras Schiff, the famed Hungarian pianist, arranged a very nice recital program. The event took place on Tuesday night in Avery Fisher Hall, not the ideal auditorium for a piano recital – especially when there’s a lot of Haydn on the program, as there was on this one. Haydn deserves acoustically friendlier surroundings. But if the pianist is good, it shouldn’t matter. And on Tuesday night, it didn’t matter much.

That program was all Haydn and Beethoven – and Mr. Schiff began with a relative rarity, Haydn’s Capriccio in G major, based on the folk song “Acht Sauschneider mussen sein.” (It has to do with the castration of a pig.) (Sorry.) Mr. Schiff’s rendering of the Capriccio was well-balanced, confident, and happy – just like the piece itself. (You can tell that the pig didn’t write it.) Mr. Schiff brought out every voice, and his playing was heartfelt, while still Classically pure. This is a simple piece, but Mr. Schiff didn’t condescend to it in any way – he played it with respect and affection.

Sticking with Haydn, he turned to one of that master’s best sonatas, that in E minor. His approach to the first movement was surprising: He was rather aggressive and punchy. Some of us like this music more silken, more limpid, more elegant – but Mr. Schiff is entitled to his view. Perhaps he thought he had to overcome Avery Fisher Hall. Or perhaps he was saying,”Look, Haydn isn’t as dainty as you think he is.” (Haydn needs no such defense.) I had never noticed such virtuosity in the first movement of the E-minor. At least Mr. Schiff was accurate and commanding.

In the second movement – Adagio – you could have asked for a better singing line. Some of those notes were dead when struck, rather than sustaining. But Mr. Schiff played this movement competently. And the final movement – which bears the wonderful marking Vivace molto (innocentement) – was beautifully judged. Mr. Schiff was playing with the music as much as playing it. Even the rushing he did was interpretively effective. And I might make a specific point of technique here: Mr. Schiff has the ability to play staccato without clipping, which is not given to every pianist.

Now it was Beethoven’s turn – and Mr. Schiff chose maybe the wittiest sonata the composer ever wrote.This is the Sonata in G major, Op. 31, No. 1, which is filled with jokes, tricks, and mischief. Mr. Schiff played the opening movement rather politely – other pianists are more unbuttoned in it, giving it more character. But so what? Mr. Schiff was entirely unobjectionable. In any event, the middle movement had plenty of character: It was flavored by a kind of mockery, in fact. The pianist’s trills were rather ungainly – but was that a failing of technique, or part of the joke?

The final movement, too, had considerable character, and the ending was so funny as to be hilarious (almost).

After intermission, it was back to Haydn. Mr. Schiff played the F-minor Variations, one of the glories of the Classical repertoire for piano, really. Here, Mr. Schiff was his typical self: orderly, thoughtful, a bit contained. He is a tidy and well-prepared pianist.But,up above,I mentioned something about limpidity and elegance: The F-minor Variations could have used more of those. Mr. Schiff is sometimes severe where you want him smooth. And why are those accents so harsh (or rather, big: Mr. Schiff is not harsh)? Haydn’s contrasts and emphases could have been perfectly clear without such force.

The program closed with a big work, Beethoven’s Sonata in C major, Op. 53, called the “Waldstein.” What does this beloved masterpiece require? Nobility, sweep, and beauty (among other things). This pianist provided those. In his technique, he can be slightly stiff, and more freedom would make him even more impressive – but he handled the “Waldstein,” and then some.

The slow movement was nicely calibrated, and if it lacked warmth at first, it gained it later – also, I might say that Mr. Schiff was competing with a sort of rock-‘n’-roll cell phone. And the Rondo was unusually relaxed, and unusually slow.Mr.Schiff must have taken to heart the movement’s marking: Allegretto moderato.There’s a lot of caution in that marking! And you may wish to know the following detail: Mr. Schiff’s glissandos, toward the end of the piece, were about the classiest you’ll ever hear.

Like many musicians – and most people – Andras Schiff is inconsistent, playing superbly one night, and indifferently,if not badly, the next. But there is no denying that he is a major pianist, capable of greatness.

He gave the crowd one encore – and here I have an objection. Well, two of them, actually. The encore – Schumann’s Arabeske – was too long (for an encore), and it broke from the pattern of Haydn and Beethoven. If you’re committed, why not commit? But Mr. Schiff loves Schumann, and he played the Arabeske well, and that must be the final word.