Let’s dispense with the least successful performance, that of Sonata No 53. Marie Rørbech tries to make the most of Haydn’s writing in the slow movement, but the outer movements are rather misconceived. The spare texture of the first is compromised by ill-judged pedalling that also reduces the impact of the strategically placed fermatas; and she is unsubtle in the double variation finale, paying little attention to the need for changes in tone colour between E minor and major.

András Schiff has the measure of this work, as he also has of No 59. Rørbech, though not quite his equal, again plays the slow movement with great feeling while emphasising the contrast in the middle section. It augurs well for the Sonata un piccolo divertimento, in which she combines the elegiac with the passionate so successfully it is all the more regrettable that, like many other pianists, she omits the bridge passage before the return of the theme.

High artistic standards remain as Rørbech picks the right pace and expressive intensity for the first movement of No 38; and she draws out the restlessness of the second by skillfully differentiating between the sextuplet and triplet rhythms of the bass line. Horowitz (DG, nla), no less, glosses over their significance.

So, two uneven performances but the rest is very good indeed. The recording, though tonally credible, lacks spaciousnessNalen