‘Deplorably corrupt’ is how Tchaikovsky’s biographer, David Brown, describes the draconian alterations made to the Rococo Variations by the work’s dedicatee, Wilhelm Fitzenhagen. It’s a sorry tale: the German cellist effectively duped the publisher Jurgenson into believing that his wholesale and self-serving changes had already met with Tchaikovsky’s approval; in fact, they play havoc with the canny pacing and judicious proportions of the composer’s meticulously crafted original scheme, while jettisoning some enchanting music entirely, not least the agile eighth variation that leads straight into the coda (try from 16’54”).

Certainly, the present superb performance triumphantly vindicates Tchaikovsky’s first thoughts. Not yet 30, the young Hungarian virtuoso István Várdai has been garnering plenty of prizes and plaudits of late, and his outstandingly fine contribution marries a gratifyingly sumptuous and varied tonal palette to a flawless technical address – that we shall be hearing a lot more from him I have not the slightest doubt. Both here and in the work’s more familiar revision Várdai is most sympathetically partnered by the Pannon Philharmonic under Tibor Bogányi, and the fill-ups are just as enjoyable, with the Nocturne (whose secondary melody Stravinsky incorporated into his 1928 ballet Le baiser de la fée) sounding especially gorgeous. There are, however, a sprinkling of rather self-consciously flashy departures from the solo part in the Pezzo capriccioso that I don’t see in the 1888 printed score: were they perhaps added by Anatoly Brandukov (for whom this charming piece was fashioned)?

No matter, this remains excitingly assured and agreeably spontaneous music-making, ripely engineered and sympathetically balanced. Worth a punt at Brilliant’s price, I’d say.