A few years ago Wilfred Mellers said: ‘Beethoven, whom we conventionally associate with Teutonic introspection and angst, is also by far the funniest of Europe’s major composers’. Anne Queffélec doesn’t appear to agree, or is perhaps reluctant to see humour in a set of variations on so solemn a theme as God Save the King. And Beethovenian humour here varies from sly send-ups to the equivalent of horse laughs (Variation 4) or poking people in the ribs (Variation 6). Queffélec is probably too fastidious to countenance this sort of behaviour. Nor is she willing to enter into a spirit of abandon that will drive the Rondo a capriccio with headlong inevitability to match its nickname ‘Rage over a lost penny’.

If coarse gags don’t appeal to Queffélec, introspection certainly does. The Andante favori is a case in point. Her tone is deeper in the bass and excellent harmonic underpinning coupled to strong passion ensures a profound, far-reaching interpretation. The Bagatelles, Für Elise and the Op 34 Variations, though not quite as arresting, nevertheless fit her interpretative inclinations, too. But instead of offering a complete disc of smaller masterpieces (for instance, her view of the Fantasy Op 77 might have been worth hearing), Queffélec disappointingly includes the over-exposed Moonlight Sonata; and though she gives a good performance it isn’t special and is, anyway, out of place in this context.

Some reservations notwithstanding, there are many insights from Queffélec; not least in the Andante favori where her grasp of its emotional charge is very impressive. The recording mostly emphasises the top end which also becomes strident under pressure.