Search - Chopin, Cyprien Katsaris :: Chopin: Ballades & Scherzos

Abundance of Katsaris Trademarks, Falling Somewhat Flat

C. Pontus T. | SE/Asia | 12/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"INTRODUCTION: This was indeed my first disc of Chopin's four Ballades, acquired when I was no older than 13. At that time, I only had a partial grasp of the infinite greatness of these pieces--in fact, which I would discover years later, the most perfect condensate of musical and pianistic refinement in the entire piano oeuvre. Coupled with Chopin's four most large-scale showcases of pianistic virtuosity, they feature an almost equally ardent and idiosyncratic Chopin specialist, Cyprien Katsaris.



REFERENCES: Ballades--Demidenko (Chopin: Ballades; Third Sonata); Scherzos--Pogorelich (Chopin: Four Scherzi)



Katsaris indeed completed as much as three volumes of what seemed to be an early 1990s plan by Sony to undertake a complete Chopin survey. Like many other early 1990s releases, these were sort of lost in the sheer quantity of new compact discs flowing the market, which probably explains why the bold venture was eventually scrapped. In 1999, Katsaris was back with another major undertaking--'In Memoriam Chopin', a vast recital of Chopin masterworks recorded live at Carnegie Hall on the very day of Chopin's untimely death 150 years earlier (released on Piano 21, still available in Europe). In the enclosed booklet, Katsaris gives an illuminating explanation of his take on playing Chopin--'counter-subjects are not the "added" notes of the author of these lines. All one needs to do to detect them is to look at the score. Practising for 25 years instinctively the musical principle of varying the repeats, you can imagine my surprise when I found out at the beginning of the 1990's, that Chopin did so as well. He highlighted unexpected counter-subjects, and varied tempo, dynamics, and ornaments.'



Katsaris's Ballades and Scherzos were recorded by Teldec in 1984 and received a Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin in the subsequent year. As so often in the Teldec Studio (now Teldex Studio), the recorded sound is a tad too close and tinny--in fact very much so in this release. The Katsaris trademarks of bold virtuosity, extensive tempo fluctuations (often beyond rubato), and the above-described emphasis on counter-subjects as well as varying the repeats are all very much evident here. They work far better in the Scherzos--most notably in a sizzling First--than in the Ballades, largely falling out surprisingly flat. Differences in tempo are clearly observed but far too little attention is given to the wide range of dynamics and tone colours served by Chopin. In these respects, the above references play at least in one division higher (yes, Pogorelich is extreme to the limit, but what he achieves simply knocks you over). In the end, the earth-shattering Katsaris revealing himself in Liszt's Beethoven Symphonies is not present here.



Even if somewhat affected by sentimentality, this Apex disc is indeed worth its rather modest outlay (still available elsewhere both in the US and Europe). Having said that, the bargain knockout for this coupling has to be the exceedingly straightforward Szekely (Chopin: 4 Ballades; 4 Scherzi)--at less than $3!



TIMINGS: Ballades--9:04, 7:18, 7:18, 11:12; Scherzos--9:42, 9:50, 7:21, 10:41"