Anatole Kitain (1903-1980)

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Sergey Rachmaninov, Johannes Brahms, Alexander Scriabin, Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, Leopold Godowsky, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

Label: Appian Publications & Recordings

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 123

Mastering:

Mono
ADD

Catalogue Number: APR7029

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Introduction and Rondo Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Mazurkas (Complete), Movement: No. 13 in A minor, Op. 17/4 (1832-33) Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(4) Ballades, Movement: No. 2 in F, Op. 38 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(4) Ballades, Movement: No. 3 in A flat, Op. 47 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(4) Scherzos, Movement: No. 1 in B minor, Op. 20 (1831-32) Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(27) Etudes, Movement: G flat, 'Black Keys', Op. 10/5 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(27) Etudes, Movement: E flat minor, Op. 10/6 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(27) Etudes, Movement: C, Op. 10/7 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(27) Etudes, Movement: F, Op. 10/8 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(27) Etudes, Movement: C minor, 'Revolutionary', Op. 10/12 Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Fryderyk Chopin, Composer
(2) Concert Studies, Movement: No. 1, Waldesrauschen Franz Liszt, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Franz Liszt, Composer
Années de pèlerinage année 1: Suisse, Movement: Vallée d'Obermann Franz Liszt, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Franz Liszt, Composer
Années de pèlerinage année 2: Italie, Movement: Sonetto 47 del Petrarca Franz Liszt, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Franz Liszt, Composer
Années de pèlerinage année 2: Italie, Movement: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca Franz Liszt, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Franz Liszt, Composer
(12) Etudes d'exécution transcendante, Movement: No. 5, Feux follets Franz Liszt, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Franz Liszt, Composer
Toccata Robert Schumann, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Robert Schumann, Composer
(4) Ballades, Movement: D minor (Edward) Johannes Brahms, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Johannes Brahms, Composer
(16) Waltzes Johannes Brahms, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Johannes Brahms, Composer
(3) Pieces, Movement: No. 1, Etude in C sharp minor Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
(24) Preludes, Movement: A minor Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
(9) Mazurkas, Movement: E minor Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Alexander Scriabin, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 1, Elégie in E flat minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(9) Etudes-tableaux, Movement: No. 1 in F minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(24) Preludes, Movement: G sharp minor, Op. 32/12 Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Potpourri on Johann Strauss's 'Die Fledermaus' Leopold Godowsky, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Leopold Godowsky, Composer
(The) Tale of Tsar Saltan, Movement: Flight of the bumble-bee Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Anatole Kitain, Piano
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Composer
Anatole Kitain (1903-80), a Russian-American virtuoso, enjoyed a heady acclaim among the cognoscenti and his legend is lovingly and painstakingly presented on this two-disc set of his complete Columbia recordings. To say, however, that Kitain is “as equally blessed as Barere and Horowitz” is to blur too many distinctions. Even when he is deft and musicianly he is hardly acute. Too often he generates the pace and velocity of the virtuoso, but too little of his heat and passion. His Strauss-Godowsky is, however, an ebullient and light-fingered exception. And so, too, more surprisingly, are the Brahms Waltzes. Here his lingering stress on the first beat in each bar of No. 3 provides a welcome touch of fantasy, and there is real elan in the whirling Vivace of No. 6. Such things help to erase the memory of some fancy and convoluted voicing in No. 16, where little sense of valediction is achieved.
Elsewhere Kitain is foiled by music of concentration and economy (Chopin’s neurasthenic Mazurka, Op. 17 No. 4 or Brahms’s grisly ‘Edward’ Ballade, Op. 10 No. 1). Here you can almost feel his fingers itching for a greater prestidigitory challenge. Again, he reels off the glittering thread of Chopin’s E flat Rondo (his was the first recording of this work) but his opening to the Third Ballade is disappointingly gentlemanly or laissez-faire in style. Chopin’s baleful, near Wagnerian chromaticism in his E flat minor Etude is glossed over, and there is little sense of Liszt’s Byronic gloom and grandeur in his “Vallee d’Obermann”.
However, even when everything is kept smartly on the move and the effect is more streamlined than probing, all these performances are nimble and often exhilarating. The recordings have come up remarkably well and, once again, collectors are in debt to Bryan Crimp for his care and research.'

Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music. 

Stream on Presto Music | Buy from Presto Music

Gramophone Print

  • Print Edition

From £6.67 / month

Subscribe

Gramophone Digital Club

  • Digital Edition
  • Digital Archive
  • Reviews Database
  • Full website access

From £8.75 / month

Subscribe

                              

If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.