Playing as if before a small late-night audience of friends, Menahem Pressler gives us a warmth and speculation far removed from a more impersonal concert-hall brio and self-conscious mastery. A measured start to Beethoven’s Op 110 Sonata, though with a deft rejoinder in the following arpeggio patterns, leads you into a profoundly lyrical world with a renewed sense of a mystical beyond. His second-movement Allegro molto may be less robust and propulsive than from others but in the Arioso dolente and most of all in the hushed final appearance of the fugue it would be difficult to imagine a higher degree of inwardness or quietly sustained eloquence.

Much the same virtues apply to the Schubert B flat Sonata, most notably in the second-movement Andante sostenuto (though with a strongly affirmative impetus in the central contrast). All this is a far cry from other overly sophisticated versions; never for a moment do you feel the need to impress with externals. For his encore, Pressler turns to Chopin, and in the posthumous C sharp Nocturne he once more gives you all of his musical radiance. The recorded sound captures the tonal bloom and magic of the playing, making this a memorable issue by a pianist who, despite his age, 90, can hardly be said to be in the autumn of his career.