Julius Katchen’s coupling of the Rachmaninov and Dohnanyi’s Variations was a classic of the mono LP catalogue, surviving on Decca’s bargain Ace of Clubs label (9/54) for many years after the same artists had re-recorded these works in stereo for Decca (the Rachmaninov is available on (CD) 433 627-2DSP). This vivid Dutton transfer helps to explain why, for Katchen and Boult together capture a sense of new discovery that keeps one riveted from one variation to the next, each one sharply characterized. It is surprising that the Nursery Variations, once a regular repertory work, has fallen into relative neglect both on disc and in the concert-hall, for as Katchen and Boult show, the humour is all the more delightful when not overplayed. So Boult conducts the grand orchestral introduction with a biting intensity worthy of Wagner, leaving Katchen to enunciate the nursery theme (Ah, vous dirai-je Maman, Twinkle, twinkle little star or a simplified Baa, baa black sheep) completely po-faced, not labouring the humour at all with any hint of archness. Not that there is any rigidity in the performance, for the waltz variation is given the most delectable Viennese lilt, and the final pay-off after the fugue is charmingly pointed.
The contrasting moods in the Rachmaninov Rhapsody bring comparable sharpness of focus. Katchen’s muscular purposefulness in the virtuoso variations gives way to a most poetic account of the great eighteenth, with the entry of the melody magically prepared in the subdued seventeenth. Katchen’s rubato is extreme, but appears tenderly spontaneous. Sensibly, the Dutton transfer has been given three tracks, not just at the start and for Var. 18, but also on the bold entry of the Dies irae theme at Var. 7.
Both in the Dohnanyi and the Rachmaninov Rhapsody the piano sound is full and firm with fine presence, yet as in so many early Decca recordings there is a hint of sourness on exposed high violins. That shortcoming is more serious in the transfer of the concerto, a recording made three years earlier in 1951, with shallower piano tone and less presence. Katchen’s is again a fine reading, but it is not as magnetic as that of the Rhapsody, and I find myself consistently preferring another recent transfer of this work in a version of the same period that I did not previously know – Geza Anda’s with the Philharmonia, now transferred by Testament (10/95). But the two sets of Variations, aptly placed first on the disc, are what matter, and it is good to have Katchen’s artistry so compellingly celebrated.'