There is much to praise here. Louis Lortie manages to make the first movement of the Pathetique grandly heroic without confusing Beethoven with Byron. He doesn't pull his punches, but he can also surprise by suddenly reminding you how beautiful Beethoven's piano writing can be. Contrasts are strong without being unnecessarily underlined and there's even a touch of wry humour in the Pathetique's finale—as though Lortie were quietly enjoying debunking old ideas of ''tearful entreaty'' and ''wild desperation''.
Whatever his thinking, I find Lortie on the whole more persuasive in allegros than in the slow movements. The Adagio cantabile of the Pathetique struck me as a bit cool after the impressive drama of the first movement; the Andante of Les adieux too impressed me more for its measured clarity than for depth or range of expression; and in the Adagio molto of the Waldstein something at last stood out that had bothered me intermittently elsewhere on this disc without my being able to put my finger on it—there isn't a great deal of variation or expression in Lortie's pianissimo. Tonally it's pleasing enough, and yet at the same time it's rather faceless—the 'inward' Beethoven still seems to elude him. The same goes for sustained piano writing: the Poco andante just before the end of the finale of Les adieux is a good example—lovely at first, but in the overview a bit bland. It's all very sympathetically recorded—not too close to the piano, clearly focused and atmospheric—but on the evidence of this disc I can't help feeling that for all his positive qualities, Lortie's Beethoven still needs fleshing out.'