This reissue is a reminder of a prodigiously gifted pianist who died tragically at the age of 42. His recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations was first issued in 1953 while Op 111 was to follow a year later when it was coupled with the Appassionata Sonata. Katchen once claimed that his studies in philosophy helped him to come closer to the heart of Op 120, a towering masterpiece, and together with Bach’s Goldbergs the greatest set of keyboard variations ever composed. And returning after many years to this performance tells you how Katchen made light of every difficulty while at the same time discarding a more profound or speculative viewpoint. The confidence, ease and facility remain daunting and the playing is never less than sensitive and musicianly. Yet at the same time it is difficult to sense the sustained eloquence and intensity of, say, Schnabel or, more recently, Richter, Kovacevich and Anderszewski (Paul Lewis’s recording is already on the horizon).

Relatively speaking Katchen’s is a lightweight conception with everything kept smartly on the move. You won’t easily hear a more coruscating technique than in, for example, Variations 10 and 26, but it is only in the second movement of Op 111 that Katchen achieves much of the heaven-sent wonder and repose that eludes him elsewhere. As an encore he includes the C major Polonaise, recorded in 1968, a virtuoso oddity and squib tossed off with astonishing energy and aplomb. Decca’s transfers are excellent.