French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's Beethoven sonata cycle for Chandos is coming in chronological, three-disc chunks. The second takes him from the perfectly formed Sonata in B flat, Op 22, right up to the explosive adventure that is the Waldstein Sonata. As in his earlier volume, Bavouzet's approach is one of classical poise. The playing is rhythmically alert and crisp in articulation. Everything is shaped in the best of taste; excesses and mannerisms are avoided. If you want to be reminded that the Waldstein was written less than five years into the 19th century – Mozart just over 10 years dead, Haydn still alive – Bavouzet is certainly the man to give you that reminder. Still, a certain dryness of effect in the Waldstein itself does test the approach. url.ie/f1f2