Album: Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, Opus 26, 14 & 28 – Perahia, (Sony)

Few pianists have been as slow to tackle Beethoven as Murray Perahia. Subtle, elegant and unconventional, this performance of Nos 9, 10, 12 and 15 is only the third disc of Beethoven Sonatas in Perahia's career, and comes after a 13 year gap.

There's a Mozartian lightness in the A flat major Sonata, and a Schubertian sense of melancholy in the G major Sonata. In the brilliance of the E major Sonata and the restraint of the D major, Perahia defies expectations of quasi-symphonic angst. Anna Picard

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Pick of the album: The reflective Andante of the D major Sonata, Op 28