In this, the 10th volume of Ronald Brautigam’s complete solo Beethoven, he reaches the Bagatelles. In addition to the well-known sets collected together as Opp 33, 119 and 126, he also gathers together the many others Beethoven wrote during his career. Many are minuscule but packed full of character, such as the 20-second Scottish-sounding Bagatelle in E flat, Hess74, or the fraught C minor work, WoO52, an extraordinary early piece from 1795. Then there are the more familiar, such as a certain A minor Bagatelle called Für Elise.

Brautigam reflects the span of these pieces by using two instruments, both modern copies made by Paul McNulty, the first based on a Walter instrument from around 1805, the second on a Graf from some 15 years later. In the earlier of the two you’re particularly aware of the different colourings of the registers, from the burnished resonance of the bass (heard to good effect towards the end of Op 33 No 3) to the sweetly tinkling upper registers, with the contrast between the two strikingly conveyed in Op 33 No 5 and the C major Bagatelle, WoO56.

The Graf remake is fuller-textured and has less variety from register to register – in other words, closer to a modern piano. There’s also a certain halo around the sound of this instrument, which has a mellowing effect on the Op 126 Bagatelles in particular: some may favour a more edgy view, in which case Anderszewski, Brendel or Kovacevich on modern instruments would remain top of my list. But this is a terrific addition to Brautigam’s cycle and is recommended to anyone who thinks fortepianos are the poor relations of the modern Steinway. I defy you not to be won over.