First issued on LP by Unicorn Kanchana and covered by Gramophone in the March 1971 issue, Peter Katin’s complete traversal of Rachmaninov’s piano preludes later appeared on two Olympia CDs (10/87) and a single Pickwick CD, plus several low-price download options. Somm now brings out its own edition in observance of Katin’s 80th birthday year.

While the sonics remain colourless, fuzzy and slightly metallic in loud climaxes, this latest remastering adds a modicum of fullness and body masked in previous editions. In general, Katin is technically secure and stylistically idiomatic, although some of the more demanding selections find the pianist erring on the side of caution; note, for example, his solid yet square-toed phrasing throughout Op 32 No 1 in C major, or chord-playing that’s ever so slightly frayed around the edges in the thick outer sections of Op 23 Nos 2 and 5. On the other hand, the supple, swirling passagework in Op 23 No 7 in C minor, the intense bravura sweep Katin brings to the A minor Op 32 No 8, plus the flexible lyricism sensitivity revealed in the D major, G major, B minor and G sharp minor selections, easily hold their own in a catalogue awash with competing versions. In all, the best of Katin’s work has much to offer, albeit not quite on the level of other sonically outmoded Rachmaninov Preludes cycles by Fiorentino (APR) and Weissenberg (RCA), let alone Ashkenazy’s reference version (Decca). The booklet-notes contain Katin’s own 1987 commentaries, plus a recent interview with the pianist by Colin Anderson.

By contrast, Vassily Primakov is a more subjective, rhetorically inclined Rachmaninov interpreter. You hear this right away in the broadly conceived Op 23 No 2, with its overly stretched-out rubatos and artificially highlighted inner voices, or in the fussy tempo adjustments that dissipate the G minor’s basic march pulse. However, similar gestures pay more convincing expressive dividends, such as in the gorgeous tonal inflections distinguishing the B minor, G sharp minor and G major Preludes, or within the Corelli Variations’ dramatic contrasts in dynamics and rhythm. The latter work also showcases Primakov’s masterful ability to execute thick chordal passages with maximum legato and minimum sustain pedal.