D isinclined to follow the herd and record Beethoven’s three final piano sonatas as a job lot, Víkingur Ólafsson has chosen to circle one of them, No 30 in E major, Op 109, locating it in a musical timeline that reflects both the composer’s past and the Viennese milieu of the early 18th century.

View image in fullscreen The artwork for Opus 109. Photograph: Deutsche Grammophon

For Ólafsson, looking backwards means turning to Bach, whose musical fingerprints he detects all over late Beethoven. The latter’s uninhibited invention, he argues, has its roots firmly in the baroque with its improvisatory elements and enthusiasm for the dance.

The album opens with Bach’s E major Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (indeed, all the works here are either in E major or E minor,

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