Sapellnikoff’s Tchaikovsky Concerto has appeared on CD before (notably Pearl GEMMCD9163) but not his complete extant recordings (the sides he made for Decca in 1929, including a Rachmaninov Second Concerto, seem to have been destroyed), a total of 26 titles made between 1923 and 1927. Here is a virtuoso from the Golden Age who deserves a place alongside the Rosenthals and Hofmanns – indeed, this discography in some ways is superior, for Sapellnikoff, whatever his faults, is completely fearless and, unlike many of his peers, uninhibited by the recording process.

If Vassily Sapellnikoff (1868-1941) is remembered at all it is for being the only pianist to have recorded Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto who had played it under the composer’s baton. His was the first recording ever made of the Concerto and, though he plays the now familiar third (posthumous) version of the score (with a few minor disparities and a hefty cut towards the end of the last movement), it remains an immensely important document. Some people think Sapellnikoff too matter-of-fact. Personally I love the pacing, the tempo relationships, his effortless fluency and (easily discernible) resonant, singing tone. It is an acoustic (as opposed to electrical) recording but the ear soon adjusts to the boxy sound and the double bass part played by tubas. Not everything is perfect but it is a remarkable performance led by the 26-year-old Stanley Chapple (1900 87), Vocalion’s music director who later emigrated to the States, where he became involved with the first seasons at Tanglewood (and was thus an early mentor of Leonard Bernstein).

Among the 25 short works that follow are some truly wonderful performances, among them Le rossignol (Alyabyev-Liszt), Valse-Impromptu and Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 (Liszt), and three of Sapellnikoff’s own compositions that sparkle with fabulous dexterity and a palpable joie de vivre. If this were not enough, we are also treated to the complete recordings of Xaver Scharwenka (1858-1924), most of them made more than a decade earlier. The mere seven titles sound remarkably fine in Mark Obert-Thorn’s transfers, though without the personality (or indeed accuracy) that shines through on the Sapellnikoff discs.

APR’s executive producer, Mike Spring, has given us many treasures since he took over the helm but few rival these in significance, rarity (Sapellnikoff discs change hands for considerable sums) and sheer pleasure. It will leave pianophiles drooling.