In Beethoven’s Op 7 Sonata, Maurizio Pollini pounces on the composer’s Allegro molto e con brio directive with joyful momentum. No less intensity marks both the meditative lyricism and the agitated outbursts of the Largo. Pollini’s one-beat-to-a-bar treatment allows the third movement to take wing, abetted by clear dynamic distinctions and well-shaped imitative writing. At times, however, he telegraphs the Rondo’s sudden sforzandos, while the tersely phrased embellishments may seem insufficiently grazioso.

Both of the Op 14 sonatas receive an energetic and flexible reading. The E major’s Allegretto is unusually brisk and businesslike, even when the tender C major Trio section kicks in. By contrast, the pianist’s superb articulation of the G major’s central Andante’s detached chords and cross-rhythmic accentuation underlines the music’s proximity to Haydn, and he also brings out the Rondo’s syncopations to playful, rabble-rousing effect.

Op 22 proves leaner and more compact compared to Pollini’s live 1998 traversal. You hear this in his slightly faster first-movement tempo, though the unison scales are not quite as poised and precise as before. He barely tapers phrase endings in the Adagio this time around, aiming for more expressive economy. Pollini retains his graceful and singing conception of the Rondo finale in a less inflected manifestation. But the Minuet noticeably differs in that the left-hand lines gain prominence, whereas the right-hand melody is more expansive and pliable in the earlier performance’s outer sections. When Op 31 Nos 1 and 3 and the two Op 49 works appear, Pollini’s Beethoven cycle will have reached its long-awaited completion.