'Thrillingly bizarre' would be an appropriate description for this recital. The pieces were performed live between 1975–80 and they vary in quality of recording—disappointingly it is the most significant work, Schumann's Variations on a Theme of Clara Wieck, that features an out-of-tune piano with a percussive treble. In this piece Katsaris's training in the romantic tradition is apparent, there is authority alongside some questionable rubatos. His teachers included Aline van Barentzen and Monique de la Bruchollerie, both extraordinary virtuosos, and the manic elements in his playing are very reminiscent of the style of the latter pianist.
There's no getting away from it that his right-hand technique is phenomenal, but he tends to use this capability to stun, rather than to woo. Schumann's Traumerei is unbearably ponderous and the Schubert/Liszt Soirees de Vienne, as added-to by Katsaris, emerges as over-frilly. The so-called Mozart is a tasteless piece of frippery that should not have been included.
Despite many reservations, this type of 'over-the-top' pianism is undeniably entertaining. Predictably, Katsaris's own pieces are used as vehicles for excess of technique, though each one has some interesting colouristic touches. The items I enjoyed most were the Cziffra Concert Study No. 1, which turns out to be a transcription of Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the bumble-bee and the Prokofiev Toccata in which the pianist's reflexes are really astonishing.'