So bald and equivocal a marking as Molto moderato for the first movement of D960 doesn’t faze Paul Lewis. He starts fairly slowly but moves the speed up a notch when the opening theme reappears in G flat (1'03"). It is an example of how he responds to changes in expressive content, laying them bare through a variegated range of dynamics and, controversially, liberal distension and contraction of the pulse. Nevertheless, structures don’t collapse, because Lewis’s sense of rhythm is unimpeachable. Like his mentor Alfred Brendel, he omits the exposition repeat in the opening movements of both sonatas. That, too, is controversial; but not unconvincing, because such is his feel for coherence that the development sections quickly become the centres of gravity where tensions are raised by the astute build-up of Schubert’s thematic arguments.

Here is a musician who doesn’t choose the path of least resistance. No mawkish sentimentality in the slow movement of D960. Instead, the tempo variations within Andante sostenuto clearly define the contrasts between melancholia and optimism; and the central section of the equivalent movement of D959 is minatory rather than overtly stormy, the succeeding Scherzo strangely macabre, offering no relief. Lewis’s interpretative reach is wide.

Quibbles? He pedals through some rests that would be more effective without an audible continuum. There are also fleeting suggestions that the piano isn’t quite up to scratch; but the sound itself is good. What really matters though is that in Paul Lewis we have a young artist of uncommon erudition and individuality.