Baxians must be pinching themselves at the appearance of what is the third cycle of the four numbered piano sonatas in recent years. Malcolm Binns studied the Second Sonata with Bax’s friend and colleague Arthur Alexander (who was entrusted with the 1919 premiere) and first recorded it in 1981 for Pearl (an impressive reading, never transferred to CD, 12/82).This time round, he has taken a close look at the original manuscript. Most notably, he restores a passage featuring some tricky rising tenths in the left hand prior to the recapitulation of the Moderato eroico G major theme (try from 17'30"); in addition, about three minutes of material that never made it to the published score is apportioned two separate tracks following the main work. Similarly, in the gorgeous second subject of the Third Sonata’s central Lento moderato, Binns rescues some beguiling decorative writing excised from the 1929 Murdoch edition.

Although the richly experienced Binns can’t always match the jaw-dropping technical accomplishment of either Ashley Wass (Naxos, 10/04; 6/05) or Michael Endres (Oehms, 10/06) – some will doubtless crave more in the way of sheer heft and giddy spectacle in, say, the First Sonata’s pealing culmination – his poetic instincts and intellectual acumen do not desert him. And anyway, as Eric Parkin has demonstrated in his mid-1980s survey for Chandos, a softer-spoken, less volatile approach brings its own special rewards. Make no mistake, Binns is a deeply sympathetic, tasteful and humane guide and his overall achievement a very considerable one.

Turning to the magnificent Bridge and Ireland sonatas, Binns may not topple my allegiance to Mark Bebbington and Parkin – acutely perceptive exponents, both, on Somm (10/06) and Lyrita respectively – but his accounts remain well worth investigating, for he has plenty to say and does so with discernment, spirit and wisdom. (A final textual point of note: he plays Ireland’s less frequently encountered 1951 revision.)

The warmly realistic engineering does justice to Binns’s pearly yet rounded tone and adds further lustre to a generous and stimulating set that no dedicated Anglophile should overlook.