A lifetime of experience is the gift bestowed on Menahem Pressler. This thrusting and exploratory leader of the Beaux Arts Trio, one of the most eminent groups in the second half of the last century, probably has – at 92 – an intellectual and emotional grasp of music second to none. Indomitable indeed he is, but the dynamism and razor-edge security of yore have lost their shine.

Stiffness of finger-movement may be responsible for traces of rigidity in his playing. The opening Andante grazioso of K331 has a sameness of expression with little concern for changes in inflection or emphasis. No hushed sound at the beginning of the A minor Var 3; and barely acknowledged is the change to Adagio in Var 5. If the slow movement of K570 offers not much more than a prosaic exposition of the notes, the corresponding movement of K576 flows better. Fast movements suggest that Pressler now tailors his playing according to physical limitations. Once he had none.

His erstwhile mastery over articulation and dynamic variation allied to a fine sense of rhythm, so vibrant a part of his musical ethos – ineffable freedom within regularity, tension and relaxation emanating from careful organisation of stresses, unwritten microscopic changes of tempo giving life to line and phrase – are not much in evidence but are found among countless examples in the Beaux Arts set of Haydn’s piano trios. Those performances 40-odd years later still have the power to uphold the sheer wondrousness of the music. Thanks to Menahem Pressler.