Following the success of his Schubert sonata series two years ago, Paul Lewis has embarked on a cycle of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Such cycles are more often the preserve of grander, older men, but it is precisely Lewis' intelligent but unpretentious approach that makes his playing appealing. This is certainly a massive undertaking, but the pianist's brow remains unfurrowed.

Things began well, with Lewis underlining the rhythmic wit of Beethoven's G Major sonata, Op 31 no 1. Malvern's concert club, founded by Edward Elgar in 1903, attracts an audience that is discerning but solemn in their anticipation, so Lewis's tactic of raising a laugh with Beethoven's repetitions at the very end of the first movement was both playful and shrewd. It was curious, then, that the D minor sonata, Op 31 No 2, "The Tempest", was slightly less well controlled, its drama not as taut nor the flow of the finale's moto perpetuo as liquid as might have been.

Valuable insight can be gained from a pianist's ordering of the sonatas in a cycle, and Lewis' inclusion of the F sharp major sonata, Op 78, in this group was significant. The brief, two-movement work, played without any perceptible pause, offered a glimpse of Beethoven's transition to a more Romantic, even idiosyncratic style. Here Lewis regained his composure, the playing carefully judged.

Crucially, this sonata served to set in sharp focus the subsequent one in E flat, Op 31 No 3. The piece is more often used as a prelude to a bigger sonata, but Lewis made it the glorious climax of the evening, investing each movement with expressive tone and its presto rondo finale with a vital energy and fire.