Mark-André Hamelin’s second set of Haydn sonatas confirms the adulation that greeted his first. Yet, if anything, it is even more dextrous, magical and enriching. Time and again he reminds you how in the finest pianist’s hands technique and musicianship become indivisible considerations. As Rudolf Serkin put it, “You can never have enough technique”, in the sense that only when all possible practical problems have been resolved can you be free to concentrate unimpeded on a composer’s musical essence. More specifically, Hamelin exhibits a coruscating wit and brilliance known to few pianists. When have you heard dotted rhythms more sprucely articulated than in No 35’s finale, or wondered how terms such as vivace can take on a whole new meaning given such rapier reflexes and musical sheen?

Hamelin is superbly alive to the Fantasia’s fits and starts, to its skittish changes of pace and direction, and the 26th Sonata’s finale flashes past in an unbelievable 45 seconds. True, you might take issue with his coolly flowing Andante in the F minor Variations but there is no lack of minor-key drama in the final pages, and you may well end up feeling that Hamelin’s is a refreshing alternative to, say, Demidenko’s audaciously slow tempo (“live” and also on Hyperion, 1/94R). Again, the E minor (34th) Sonata’s restless patterning is thrown off with never a hair out of place, and the concluding Sonata in C (No 48) is a marvel of precision, grace and fluency. Hyperion’s sound and presentation could hardly be more immaculate, leaving me to pray that Hamelin will continue his Haydn series when not effortlessly scaling the heights of cloudier Romantic repertoire.