Andreas Staier continues his exploration of Schumann in the company of a richly coloured, eloquent instrument by Erard, which dates from 1837, the same year as Schumann’s Op 12 Fantasiestücke. Staier never does anything that is less than compelling – just think of his innovative take on the Diabellis, or 2013’s Gramophone Award-winning Froberger and friends – and few musicians stride so effortlessly between eras and instruments. Where interpreter and keyboard particularly score is in the Abegg Variations, not least the left-hand crossings of the third variation, which have never sounded cheekier. And if the following cantabile is relatively steady, the final variation is a lot more nuanced than the pell-mell dash of some pianists.

This is a fascinating juxtaposition of early and late Schumann, the Abegg being his first published work, while at the other end of the spectrum comes the Ghost Variations, written at the time of his suicide attempt. Anderszewski and Uchida have done much to reverse received opinion about Schumann’s late music and these variations have an hypnotic quality to them but I find Staier a touch too interventionist, the line often sounding distinctly disjunct. I found this also in numbers such as the first of the Op 12, which could be more seamless; ‘Warum?’, from the same set, is also suffused with rubato. ‘Grillen’, on the other hand, is very effective, the piano’s nutty lower register coming into its own.

The progress of the late Fantasiestücke is also at times slightly hampered by Staier’s way with the accents, though the colours that emerge are unfailingly interesting and he moulds the second piece very lovingly. Though I may not necessarily respond with equal enthusiasm to all the pieces on this disc, Staier is unfailingly good at questioning received opinion and the results are thought-provoking.