Summary of disconnectnetdness

I would like to summarise the current state of dislocation between the Golden Age of pianism and our own 21st century pianism.
1) Golden Age pianists were pupils or grand-pupils (pupils of pupils) of Liszt and Chopin. This regal lineage rather died out around the second world war.
2) Golden Age pianists learnt to improvise and compose, and perform their compositions, in the lineage of their teachers. With very few exceptions this again died out by the second world war.
3) Golden age pianists often played with their arms extended, in the style visible on photographs of Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Grieg, Debussy and others (Radu Lupu these days does the same). Also with free arm weight. In modern pianism this is out of vogue, and elbows are often pinned to the side, leading to a degree of stiffness which is anathema to freedom.
4) For Golden Age pianists, the strength of spontaneous expression in the playing is paramount, so that the listener experiences a recreative force, perhaps equal in strength to the inspiration experienced by the composer at the moment of composition. Todays conservatoire teaches an altogether more controlled study and execution, the word execution meaning both realisation and death, as in the expression 'the operation was successful but the patient died'! If the listener does not come away from a piano recital having felt a powerful stream of inspiration, something has gone badly wrong.
5) The Golden Age pianist was frequently religious, looking on their pianism as a grave vocation, frequently compared to the priesthood or monasticism: Liszt was not the only pianist to take holy orders. Many moderns pianist have become more commercially motivated, as has the industry as a whole. The ultimate intentions of a performer affect the source to which one looks for inspiration, and consequently the nature of the outcome.
6) Many though not all Golden Age pianists explicitly preferred the sound of Bosendorfer pianos, which are in general rather lighter than the more assertive sound of the Steinway piano, which is now in use by the modern pianist in almost all major concert halls. With the Bosendorfer, sound was cloaked more delicacately, and the poetry of emotions was suggested rather than stated.
7) The Golden Age pianist often limited the amount of time spent practising, Chopin and Rosental recommending two hours a day, Hoffman recommending a generous 4 hours a day to his pupil Cherkassky. The modern pianist may often be practising 6-8 hours, which may make the ear less sensitive, and harden the natural suppleness of the arm. It may also result in boredom, as reported by Richter, (and occasionally some of his audience members!)
8) In consequence of 7), Golden Age pianists often made time to be polymaths, of wide ranging cultural learning (Moriz Rosental being a shining example). Many modern pianists are spending so long in repetitive practise and travel that they have no time for cultural research, resulting in a narrowness of context in their appreciation of the music, and if the performer does not fully appreciate the music, then the audience certainly will not.
In short, in order to go forwards, we now need to go backwards in time, with some urgency.