András Schiff embarks on a Beethoven cycle recorded live in chronological order, to be released in eight separate volumes over the next two years. The first thing that struck me over the course of listening was the actual sound of Schiff’s Steinway, whose remarkable timbral differentiation between registers is akin to instruments of Beethoven’s time, or the mellow ‘ping’ characterising many of today’s Bösendorfer grands. It doesn’t hurt, too, that Schiff’s multi-levelled technique and profound stylish perception work hand-in-glove. Given this pianist’s seasoned expertise as a Bach player, his fastidious care with voice-leading and executing turns, trills, and other ornaments should come as no surprise.

What’s more, Schiff’s acute attention to Beethoven’s subito dynamics and inner voices brings unusual intensity to passages such as the syncopations in the development section of Op 2 No 1’s first movement. For breathtaking variety of articulation, listen to Op 2 No 2’s Largo appassionato, where the staccato bass notes are duly short yet more resonant than usual, or the marked contrast between the Rondo’s songful outer sections and vehement central minor-key episode. In Op 7’s first movement, some may find Schiff’s arpeggiation of the second theme cloying and the broken octaves wanting in energy. The pianist also takes a sedate, less scintillating approach to Op 2 No 3’s concluding Allegro assai than others (I, for one, can’t resist Richter’s bravura – BBC Legends, 2/01). But Schiff proves equally capable of conveying the music’s implicit drama within a few short strokes. Notice how he eases his way into the first movement’s opening measures as if sneaking on stage, timing out the rests a split second longer than they’re notated, then decisively establishing Beethoven’s Allegro con brio directive at the first fortissimo (bar 13). There are, of course, other valid ways to play these works, from Kovacevich’s gaunt drive to Arrau’s full-throated deliberation. Yet Schiff’s absorbing interpretations shed fresh light on thrice-familiar works and are guaranteed to grow on you.