One of the delights of Sudbin’s playing, whatever the repertoire, is his ability to convey a wide colouristic palette – indeed, he talks in his thoughtful booklet essay about how painterly he finds the Bagatelles. He also notes the sheer range of emotions explored in Op 110, from human compassion in the first movement via edgy humour in the Scherzo to lament and then finally triumph. That humanity is very much evident in his reading of the Moderato cantabile, which he imbues with an unusual degree of gentleness and a real airiness to the more delicate writing which is very winning. Yet I find him less convincing in the brief Scherzo: he has a tendency to pause slightly before accents (for example at 0'08" and 1'30"), disrupting the sense of momentum, though the hushed close is well judged. And the Adagio ma non troppo, though given a nice haloed sound, doesn’t ultimately plumb the depths of readings such as that of Uchida, who is quite astounding here. Sudbin’s control of the voicings of the fugue are very impressive but the fiery outbursts (4'46") don’t terrify as they can do.

Overall, though, this is an impressive Op 110. The last sonata leaves me with more reservations. On the plus side are Sudbin’s sound, which never has a hint of edginess, and his refined sense of dynamic range. But the very opening, even though marked Maestoso, needs to have a tension to it that drives the music forwards, whereas this sounds altogether too world weary, as if sapped of energy. And as the Allegro con brio proceeds, Sudbin’s tendency for point-making at times disrupts the flow of the music (try at 4'20" or 7'20"). The theme of the Arietta itself is sensitively voiced and the ensuing variations are full of beautiful touches, time and again showing how much thought has gone into his music-making, though the jazzy variation could be more anarchic. But I don’t get the sense that Sudbin yet lives this music as the greatest do (it’s not a matter of mere age or experience – Levit was doing this in his twenties). Ultimately I want my Op 111 to sound more elemental than we have here – Goode and Brendel in their very different ways do precisely this.

Subdin brings plenty of personality to the six Op 126 Bagatelles. I like very much the power and drama of the second, achieved without the climaxes becoming overbearing, though in the presto No 4 he is so fast that he sounds out of breath, Osborne giving more time for its ire to speak. And of the slower bagatelles, the first is a little self-conscious in effect (Osborne here finds a more natural pulse and even a touch of playfulness) while in the third Sudbin is perhaps a degree too deliberate, compared to which Anderszewski conjures a hypnotic dreamworld that is very potent. In the constantly shifting moods of the last of the set, again, Sudbin slightly over-romanticises the Andante amabile section, softening Beethoven’s shocking juxtapositions of tempo and mood.