Cédric Tiberghien’s notion of mixing things up, done with such mastery in the first volume of his complete Beethoven variations (5/23), continues in Vol 2, in which figures as varied as Sweelinck, Bach, Feldman, Cage and Crumb are interspersed with the man himself, ensuring the set’s 133 tracks are constantly absorbing. Four of the variation sets overlap with his recording from 20-plus years ago, making for fascinating comparison with his younger self.

Of those, the 32 Variations in C minor are temperamentally more sure-footed (all that Beethoven with Alina Ibragimova has clearly paid off), the shift from ferocious minor to major in Vars 12 to 16 all the more emotionally powerful, and the final extended variation now suggesting much later musical vistas than its 1806 date would suggest.

At the other end of the emotional scale, Tiberghien’s ‘Rule, Britannia!’ now makes more contrast between the (irritatingly) upbeat theme and the way Beethoven then strong-arms it into something much tenser in the first variation and, particularly in the minor-key fourth, gives it more time than previously, making the final variation all the more dartingly subversive.

Subversive too is the way he follows this with Morton Feldman’s Last Pieces, giving them the colours and spaciousness of a master artist. The last of these, ‘Very fast – soft as possible’, has a true sense of play, after which the graceful theme of Beethoven’s WoO77 variation set somehow seems an entirely natural fit. It’s more considered in mood and tempo than the young Tiberghien. I do, though, have a soft spot for the more guileless way of his earlier Var 1. After this Cage’s Seven Haiku are profoundly refreshing, each potently characterised by the pianist in the briefest of time spans.

Other highlights include the Dressler Variations, which don’t get out that much: in the same key as the C minor Variations, they are quite different in mood, partly because the theme itself is majestic rather than driven. Tiberghien is more effective than Pletnev, who feels too interventionist, more aligned to the masterly Brautigam in the way both extract maximum impact through the nine variations without exaggeration. From here to the haunting Processional by George Crumb is another powerful move. And Cage’s In a Landscape hypnotises the ear as much as Chamayou’s recent account.

Any doubts? Just very occasionally: the Sweelinck ‘Mein junges Leben’ Variations don’t sound all that convincing transferred to piano; Bach’s youthful Aria variata is not on the same level as Ólafsson’s, whose utter contrapuntal mastery elevates this music to a new level; Brahms’s arrangement of the Bach Chaconne lacks a certain inherent majesty at the outset; and not even Tiberghien’s mastery can lift the early Beethoven ‘Venni amore’ set above banality (even Brautigam can’t quite manage it). But as a whole, Tiberghien’s reframing of Beethoven is full of delights.