This is the Czech pianist Jan Bartoš’s second Supraphon release. Last year he recorded two Mozart concertos for the label (10/17) and Newportline has issued a solo disc of Smetana, Schumann and Václav Talich. These two new Beethoven discs show Bartoš to be a serious craftsman and a thoughtful, if highly circumspect musician.

The outer movements of the C major Sonata, Op 2 No 3, are the most successful of these readings, due largely to Bartoš’s fastidious attention to their more overtly virtuoso elements. Yet finally rigidity of tempo conspires with emotional detachment to leave a curiously impersonal impression. The self-effacing, metronomic regularity of the G major Sonata, Op 14 No 1, comes off as little more than dutiful.

The shortcomings of Bartoš’s non-interventionist philosophy of interpretation become even more evident in the later works. In some cases, tempos seem relaxed to the point of somnolence, while an overall focus on detail diminishes a sense of forward movement, leaving the music to move from measure to measure, if not beat to beat. An imperturbable similarity of touch, already evident in the earlier sonatas, renders Beethoven’s dynamic discourse in a dull monotone. These characteristics shine a none-too-flattering light on the C minor Variations from 1806. The pervasive absence of rhythmic tension proves most deleterious in the outer movements of the Appassionata and in the first movement of Op 111, siphoning off their energy precisely where conveying some sense of emotional urgency would seem paramount. The arrival of the Arietta seems to signal the untethering from all human agency.

This cool, objectivist approach may appeal to those for whom Beethoven’s voice is disturbingly neurotic and who prefer to experience his music at an emotional arm’s length. Those who value vivid contrasts and dynamic immediacy in Beethoven will want to look elsewhere.