Piano Rarities Vol 1

Katsaris gets physical with this enchanting disc of transcriptions

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Sergey Rachmaninov, Richard Wagner, Fritz Kreisler, Gabriel Fauré, Gustav Mahler, Francisco Tárrega (y Eixea), (Clément Philibert) Léo Delibes, Reinhold Glière, Federico Mompou, (Pio) Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Georges Bizet, Robert Schumann

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Piano 21

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 67

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: P21030

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani Fritz Kreisler, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Fritz Kreisler, Composer
Liederkreis, Movement: No. 5, Mondnacht Robert Schumann, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Robert Schumann, Composer
An Silvia Franz Schubert, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Franz Schubert, Composer
Wesendonck Lieder, Movement: Der Engel Richard Wagner, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Richard Wagner, Composer
(8) Lieder aus Letzte Blätter, Movement: No. 1, Zueignung (orch 1940) Richard Strauss, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Richard Strauss, Composer
Symphony No. 5, Movement: Adagietto Gustav Mahler, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Gustav Mahler, Composer
Damunt de tu, només les flors Federico Mompou, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Federico Mompou, Composer
Recuerdos de la Alhambra Francisco Tárrega (y Eixea), Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Francisco Tárrega (y Eixea), Composer
Choro da saudade (Pio) Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Composer
(Pio) Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Adieux de l'hôtesse arabe Georges Bizet, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Georges Bizet, Composer
(3) Songs, Movement: Nell (wds. L de Lisle: 1878) Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Gabriel Fauré, Composer
Coppélia, Movement: Valse lente (Clément Philibert) Léo Delibes, Composer
(Clément Philibert) Léo Delibes, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Vocalise Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Bronze Horseman Reinhold Glière, Composer
Cyprien Katsaris, Piano
Reinhold Glière, Composer
There are those pianists who restrict themselves to the compositions of a small number of composers and make very good careers in their endless search for new things to say about them; and there are those who never tire of dipping into the bottomless treasure chest of the piano repertoire in an endless search for something new. Such an omnivore is Cyprien Katsaris. All his recordings, this one not the least among them, convey a feeling of sheer delight: in the piano as a means of expression and in his own considerable skills.

Piano transcription fanciers will fall over themselves for this collection, not merely for the effortless bravura and tonal control of the playing (Katsaris is in the Wild/Volodos/Cziffra league) but because they will not have heard many of the titles. No fewer than ten are by the Polish-born (1946) Karol A Penson whose profession, amazingly, is not music but science: he is Professor of Physics at the University of Paris, a veritable Borodin de nos jours. These include luminous arrangements of Schumann’s “Mondnacht” and Richard Strauss’s “Zueignung” as well as a finger-busting repeated-note transcription of Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra, and (another guitar-to-piano work) Barrios Mangoré’s enchanting Chôro da saudade arranged for the left hand alone.

The recording is a tad on the spacious side – probably a good option in order to capture the huge sonority produced in items like the opening Praeludium and Allegro (Kreisler-Vaneyev) or the artfully floated tone in Fiorentino’s transcription of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise which is followed by the delirious acrobatics of the Waltz from Glière’s The Bronze Horseman. Now there’s an obscurity!

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