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...