Among Jonathan Biss’s previous discs is an impressive Schumann recital (EMI, 2/07). This live Schubert recital is less consistently successful if only because he has yet to find the same depth of expression and individuality that were omnipresent in Schumann. The incomplete Reliquie Sonata is well played but unremarkable alongside the likes of, say, Uchida (Philips, 12/97). Biss is a natural musical poet who likes to savour each flower along the way. This works for and against him. In the long first movement of the A major Sonata, for instance, Schnabel in 1937 (EMI, 5/92) and Paul Lewis (Harmonia Mundi, 5/03) among others bring more forward momentum to the music and greater drama – try the passage beginning 36 bars before the coda (12'36") played here with little dynamic variation; by contrast, Biss finds a rare and almost prayerful serenity for the movement’s conclusion before slipping magically into the relative minor of the Andantino. This is especially well handled, while the Scherzo and Rondo reveal Biss’s innate grasp of structure. In both sonatas his unfailingly lovely tone is well captured (Jeremy Hayes and Tony Faulkner) without the washy acoustic that sometimes affects live Wigmore Hall recordings.

The sonatas are book-ended with two pieces by the Romanian-born Hungarian György Kurtág (b1926). “Birthday Elegy for Judit – for the second finger of her left hand” lasts a mercifully short 1'42"; the other (2'29") is called “Hommage à Schubert” – not that you’d know without someone telling you. The pianist’s booklet apologia merely confirms them to be as pretentious as they are inconsequential.