After the first invigorating instalment of Ibragimova and Tiberghien’s Wigmore Hall Beethoven series (8/10), this sequel comes as no disappointment. From the opening bars of the Spring Sonata, warm and serene in Alina Ibragimova’s hands, we’re aware of the same attention to expressive detail that distinguished the earlier recital, allied to a sure feeling for the direction and character of each movement. There’s a sense of happy partnership, too, given extra immediacy in the context of a live performance.

Ibragimova often plays very quietly and unemphatically. Some listeners may think she’s too retiring but I find that when her part is an accompaniment it invariably balances well with the piano, and when she does play with force and passion, the effect is all the more impressive. In the slow movements of Op 24 and Op 96 she sustains her long legato lines most beautifully – subtle variation of tone and dynamic are enough to make these passages memorably expressive. Listen, for example, in Op 24’s Adagio, to the way her tone, previously soft and yielding, acquires a harder edge when the melody returns in the minor key.

Cédric Tiberghien makes equally effective use of subtle expressive changes – his imaginative dynamic gradations bring the short motifs of the two scherzos (in Opp 24 and 96) vividly to life, and in the middle section of Op 12 No 2’s finale his bass sforzandos draw continual attention to the persistent motif without spoiling the effect of the melody above. I could enumerate many more favourite moments – better, though, to urge you to listen yourself.