Yevgeny Sudbin becomes the latest star pianist to offer his take on Haydn’s sonatas. His selection opens with the austere B minor Sonata, the keyboard counterpart of the later Fifths Quartet and something of a favourite among Haydnistas, with recent versions by Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet (Chandos, 5/10) and Leif Ove Andsnes (EMI, 5/99). In approach Sudbin seems most similar to Bavouzet or Andsnes, clarity and control being among his foremost concerns, while not eschewing Hamelin’s effortless brilliance and an impish delight in Haydn’s mischievous rhythmic and harmonic sleight of hand. In fact the other two sonatas here, the lighter-hearted C major and the turbulent E minor, as well as the C major Fantasia and the F minor Variations, also duplicate repertoire from Hamelin’s four discs of this music. Keyboard dexterity can naturally be taken as a given from a pianist who excels in the Russian Romantics; but let us not forget that Sudbin opened his account on record with a disc of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (5/05) and he locates in Haydn’s piano music the same mercurial shifts of mood and colour that made that debut recital such a delight.

Haydn allowed his fantasy and caprice free rein in the two single-movement works (Sudbin writes in his personal booklet essay of the Fantasia’s “nauseating hand-crossings…and invigorating double-third passages, designed to keep most bodily extremities in shape”) and to close we are treated to the pianist’s witty, athletic gloss on the finale of the Lark Quartet. Sudbin is always a compelling presence in music ranging from the charming to the demonic, and not only is this disc another winner but he also earns extra marks for the retro jumper he wears in the cover photo.