Album: Beethoven, Piano Sonatas opus 109,110,111 – Alexei Lubimov (Zig Zag Territoires)

Lubimov's peerless recording of Schubert's Impromptus contrasted the timbres of two period keyboards.

Here, he uses just one. The percussive delicacy of his 1828 Graf fortepiano emphasises the curious mixture of playfulness and reverence in the E major Sonata, while embracing the A flat Sonata's symphonic ambition. In the C minor Sonata, heart and mind are torn between the gravity of the work and the beauty of Lubimov's musicianship. A thrilling dilemma.