Pavel Kolesnikov is an artist who likes to surprise and to delve into the more forgotten corners of the repertoire: who would have thought he’d follow his compelling Louis Couperin disc (4/18) with Beethoven? And a disc on which the Moonlight Sonata features? But that is in a way a red herring, for he begins in much more obscure territory with four rarities, which are delightful. He conveys the jokiness of the second piece (probably intended as a scherzo for Op 10 No 1) without labouring the point, while the fourth contrasts a quiet playfulness, sudden outbreaks of ire and an otherworldly dreaminess.

This links perfectly to Op 27 No 2, Kolesnikov’s sound nicely haloed in the whispered opening movement. The second begins tentatively, as if waking from a dream, though I did find his accentuation a little overdone in places. The finale, beautifully pedalled, is suitably agitated and taken at a fearless speed.

The G major Sonata, Op 14 No 2, also suits Kolesnikov well, the essentially inward exposition of the opening Allegro poetically rendered, though there’s no shortage of dexterity in the briefly turbulent development section. And he gives a sparkling account of the playful and perky finale, if not quite finding the level of wit of, say, Richard Goode.

That is a caveat in the Op 33 Bagatelles, too. In the sharply witty second number, Kolesnikov almost seems to be trying too hard – while Osborne is more naturally humorous, it’s Brendel who really nails its sense of mischief, simply by contrasting a staccato right hand with the weighting of the left. Again, while Kolesnikov finds charm in the third of them (taken quite fast), Brendel sees it quite differently, obsessing over the repeated material like a mediocre student onerously going about his practice. That said, the flying figuration in sixths in No 5 is well dispatched by Kolesnikov and he takes the seventh, with its obsessive repetition of a single chord, at a real presto (Osborne and Brendel, slightly slower, send it up with an earthier kind of humour).

Kolesnikov ends with the tumultuous, driving C minor Variations. It’s a reading that makes you acutely aware of how much of the work is marked piano or quieter and much of it is impressive indeed. But I did miss the edge of danger that some bring to the more fiery writing, Tiberghien among them. Hyperion has given Kolesnikov a beautifully natural recording, plus engaging notes from Richard Wigmore.