With the fourth volume of his Beethoven sonatas, Martin Roscoe reaches some of the more unsung works (if that description can ever be applied to Beethoven). That he has thought deeply about this music is evident from the conversation printed in the booklet with producer Mike George. One of the selling points of this set – and goodness, you need one these days in this repertoire – is his use of the new edition of the sonatas by the eminent Beethoven scholar Barry Cooper. But is it enough? That was the question that was worrying away at me throughout the disc’s 72 minutes. To my mind, Opp 22 and 26 work better than Op 14. In the finale of Op 14 No 1, Roscoe is less unbuttoned than Bavouzet, while Lewis makes more of the contrast between the silky and vehement writing. In the opening movement of Op 14 No 2, Roscoe is a world apart from HJ Lim’s overly reactive playing but he can sound a touch earnest compared to Goode. In the finale, too, it is the American who most effortlessly encapsulates Beethoven’s swerves of direction and mood, though Roscoe imbues the movement with a daring virtuosity. There’s a sense that Roscoe absolutely has the measure of this music in the Allegro con brio of Op 22 but others reveal a degree more mystery in its development section. And while the quiet musicality of passages such as the minor-key variation of Op 26’s first movement or the funeral march itself are effective on their own terms, this doesn’t in all honesty stand comparison with the likes of Goode or Lewis, to name but two of the finest of today’s Beethovenians.