It’s tempting to characterise 34-year-old Israeli pianist Ishay Shaer’s new album with Orchid Classics as an inside-out sandwich with two meaty Beethoven sonatas bookending two sets of Bagatelles. But there is substantial nourishment in the middle of this survey of late works, even though some of the small goods are very small indeed (the Op. 119 No 10 lasts a mere 14 seconds). Beethoven himself was dismissive of the three sets he wrote – Opp. 33, 119 and 126 – but they are rich in ideas and like the artworks of JM Turner there is as much pleasure to be found in the watercolour notebooks as in the large-scale oil paintings.

Shaer exploits shifting moods and technical challenges with all the aplomb you would expect of a young pianist who has been mentored by the likes of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim and Murray Perahia. He describes the piano as his “best friend”, adding that music takes up about 80 per cent of his brain. His assault on the two late sonatas, No 30 which opens the album and No 28 which closes it, is hugely impressive.

Shaer is in no hurry to make his mark. His only other album, featuring works by Chopin, Ravel and Schumann, was released in 2008 after he won an America-Israel Cultural Foundation prize. This mature and authoritative collection of late Beethoven – beautifully produced by Andrew Keener and recorded in a concert hall on the Welsh border – should do a lot to put him on the international radar.

Composer: Beethoven
Composition: Piano Sonatas Nos 28 and 30
Performer: Ishay Shaer p
Catalogue Number: Orchid Classics ORC100076

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