His overall timing (63 minutes as compared with, say, Alfred Brendel's 53) signals plenty of breathing space, some of it bridging from variation to variation ­ like the 10 seconds it takes to cross between the Andante of 20 and the Allegro con brio of 21.But it's all part of a careful plan. So is the gradual building of tension between the third and fifth variations, and the powerful emphases of the seventh, where elements of the dance confront some typically Beethovenian gesturing. Anderszewski's faster playing displays spirit and finesse but it's in the quieter music that this remarkable 42-year-old really shows his mettle. Take the Bachian 25th variation, or, even better, the 14th marked Grave e maestoso, and which edges forward almost as if fearful of being noticed.

Listen in particular to how, from around 50 seconds in, Anderszewski lets the bass line resonate, lending extra colour to significant repeated phrases.But there's also fun in Beethoven's formula, like the pre-boogie 16th variation or the cameo appearance of Don Giovanni in 22, or the stamp-and-scamper of 23 (shades of Tom and Jerry). The jokes merely help to frame the profundity and Anderszewski provokes a definite response from both perspectives.Don't rest content with the version on your shelves. This one will have you thinking again.A hundred or so years ago, boldness of another kind had composers reeling in liberated ecstasies as Friedrich Nietzsche pronounced his brave theory of self-overcoming. Richard Strauss took Zarathustra's prompt for one of the most imposing musical dawn sequences of all time, and although Serge Koussevitsky's world-premiere Boston Symphony recording gave it a worthy outing, the version that William Steinberg made with the same orchestra 35 years later was even more impressive.It's not just the stereo sound, but the virility of Steinberg's reading, its pacing, clarity and ­ to paraphrase Nietzsche ­ good health.

DG's refurbished coupling is a hard-hitting Planets Suite, where Mars pushes on the accelerator and Jupiter indulges in some heavy-handed humour.Delius's A Mass of Life was another Zarathustran offspring, more ambitious than Strauss's tone poem (it's over twice as long) but with a wildly affirmative opening chorus that matches its subject to a T. Sir Thomas Beecham's legendary 1952-3 CBS/Sony Royal Philharmonic recording has long been a source of inspiration, save for some rather wobbly singing from baritone Bruce Boyce.Beecham's love of the score, and his belief in it, carries enormous conviction, and nowhere more than in the opening of Part Two, where distant horn calls anticipate an exhilarating call to "Arise! Now arise, thou Glorious Midday!"If any single moment justifies the purchase then that is it ­ though Beecham's seven-minute, Captain Mainwaring-style introduction to the Mass is probably another.Beethoven: Piano works Anderszewski (Virgin Classics 7243 5 45468 3)Strauss, Holst: Orchestral works Boston Symphony/ Steinberg (DG "Originals" 453 627-2)Delius: Orchestral Works soloists, Royal Philharmonic/Beecham (Sony SM2K89432, two discs). Cannes wouldn't be Cannes if Jean-Luc Godard wasn't causing some kind of mischief. In 1968, at the height of the student protests, he helped have the festival closed down altogether. This year, his aims were more modest ­ merely to frustrate all the hundreds of journalists who wanted to interview him. For reasons best known to himself, he refused to speak to any press. He spent half a day in town, did two interviews (one with an Argentinian and one with a Russian) and then fled straight back to Switzerland.