Leif Ove Andsnes' Beethoven Journey, a project to tour and record the five piano concertos over four years, has a whiff of record-company PR about it. But if a knock-on effect is that recital audiences also get to hear more of Andsnes in the Beethoven sonatas, it will be worth it.
Two of the sonatas framed the first half of this programme, sharing, along with the Bartók they sandwiched, a sense of insistence. In the first movement of the F major Op 54 Sonata, Andsnes kept elegance and muscle in balance, but even he couldn't stop the busy second movement seeming all too relentless. The A major Sonata Op 101 had a thoughtful first movement and a springy second, less forceful than some pianists would have it; in the fourth movement's fugue, just when Beethoven begins to seem dogged, Andsnes pulled out a massive, low crescendo that sounded like Bach thundering away at the organ – a great foil for the sweetness immediately afterwards.
In Bartók's Op 14 Suite the highlight came at the end, as the dreamy final episode emerged from the afterglow of a frantic, muscular allegro. Here and elsewhere, Andsnes' masterly use of the sustaining pedal opened up surprising possibilities. In Liszt's Pensée des Morts it created a cathedral-like aura around the grand rhetorical flourishes early on; in his Chopin it made for gloriously smooth melodic lines. The C minor Nocturne Op 48 No 1 and the Ballade No 4 in F minor were given cool yet compelling interpretations. The second of his two waltz encores, Op 34 No 1, brought a lightness and a burst of speed that made it the first moment of gratuitous showing off from Andsnes all night. He should indulge himself – and us – more often.
Available on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday.
• What have you been to see lately? Tell us about it on Twitter using #GdnReview
