Nikolai Rubinstein was generally regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his time, although now his reputation is overshadowed by that of his brother Anton. His pianistic style was quite at odds with that of his fiery brother. He instead opted for a restrained classicism more in line with the musical values of Clara Schumann than Franz Liszt. Edward Garden writes in the "New Grove" (2001), "His performances emphasized salient details of the structure of a piece and revealed great clarity of detail."