(JULIUS KATCHEN: THE COMPLETE DECCA RECORDINGS.
35CDs CELE...)
JULIUS KATCHEN: THE COMPLETE DECCA RECORDINGS.
35CDs CELEBRATING HIS 90th ANNIVERSARY OF BIRTH.
INCLUDING PREVIOUSLY UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL!
A genius signed to Decca in 1946 who defined Deccas piano sound in the 1950s and 1960s with ravishing cantabile and depth of sonority borne of matchless technique.
Complete Decca Recordings on 35CDs, including new-to-CD early recordings remastered from 78s, plus some of Deccas first-ever LPs.
Presentation includes 35CD Lift-off- lid box; notes by Cyrus Meher-Homji in English, German and French; rare photos and selected original covers in booklet
A child prodigy of startling promise, Julius Katchen matured into a pianist of broad interests and unique artistry. His death at age 42 denied a discerning public the presence of one of Deccas star instrumentalists during the 1950s and 1960s.
With this 35CD collection Decca Classics celebrates Katchens remarkable talent and unique virtuosity by showcasing his complete recordings for the label. It features his reference interpretations of Brahms solo piano works, thrilling accounts of concertos by Gershwin, Prokofiev, Brahms, Grieg, Schumann and Ravel. Recordings that were previously unpublished including Brahms Clarinet Sonatas Nos.1 & 2 with Thea King and Francks Prelude, choral et fugue. Rarities that are presented on CD internationally for the first time -
CD2: Mozart: Fantasia in D minor, K397
CD 11: Chopin Scherzo No.3 in C sharp minor, op.39
CD14: Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, op.24
CD22: Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas Nos.1 &2 with Thea King (previously unpublished)
CD34: SAINT-SAËNS Le Carnaval des animaux Grande fantaisie Zoologique
(version without narration); Beethoven: Piano Sonata No.8 in C minor, op.13 Pathétique
CD35: FRANCK: Prelude, choral et fugue (previously unpublished); Brahms: Intermezzo op.117 No.1; Chopin: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, op.66 and Polonaise No.6 in A flat major, op.53; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 in C sharp minor, S244; Mozart: Piano Sonata No.16 (Allegro)
His exciting pianism was balanced by a depth of sonority and ravishing cantabile. 90 years after his birth, Julius Katchen is remembered as one of the greatest pianists of the 20th Century. Signed to Decca on 30 October 1946, Katchens early recordings were some of the first to be released as LPs. Equally at home with chamber music, he was also Pierre Monteuxs chosen orchestral pianist in his 1956 recording of Petrushka, a performance in which he clearly relished the interplay with orchestra.
Bartok: Piano Concerto No. 3/Concerto for Orchestra/Dance Suite
(Ernest Ansermet's view of Bartok was a lyrical one and hi...)
Ernest Ansermet's view of Bartok was a lyrical one and his incredible ear brought out lines, sonorities and shape in this music that have rarely been equalled. Here, collected together on CD for the first time, are his complete Bartok recordings for Decca as part of the ongoing 'Decca Ansermet Legacy' and they include some of his most famous orchestral works, with a first release on CD of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and a first international release of the other orchestral works. The Piano Concerto No. 3, released as part of the Ansermet volume in Decca's 'Original Masters', features Julius Katchen as soloist.
Katchen plays Liszt, Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin
(This anthology of Julius Katchen's complete solo recordin...)
This anthology of Julius Katchen's complete solo recordings made during two recording blocks in 1962 and 1964, expands Katchen's discography by as many as six first releases: Beethoven's Rondo Op. 129, Rage Over a Lost Penny , Chopin's A flat major Ballade, the two famous Nocturnes Op. 9, 1 and Op. 27, 2, the late Berceuse, and finally Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, one of the pillars of nineteenth century piano music. Katchen's energetic and virtuosic reading of the Liszt sonata ranks highly amongst the great recordings of this piece. However, his interpretations of the works by Chopin, Beethoven and the late Brahms, thanks to his natural combination of virtuosity, musicianship and sense of form, are also documents of magnificently timeless piano-playing. Julius Katchen (1926-1969), who died tragically early of leukaemia, represented, alongside Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman and William Kapell the generation of the so-called OYAPs (""Outstanding Young American Pianists"") who from 1940 onwards established themselves as strong and enduring competition to the European pianists who had dominated American concert stages until that point. Katchen had been born into a Russian-Jewish family of immigrants in the state of New Jersey and made his debut aged only ten with Mozart's D minor Concerto; in the following year he was invited by Eugene Ormandy to take part in a concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra as the youngest ever soloist in the history of that orchestra; a year after that he gave his solo debut in New York. In 1946 Katchen moved to Paris, becoming one of the most active American musical ambassadors in Europe. His extensive discography, at whose centre are the complete piano works of Brahms, shows him to be a sophisticated virtuoso of the new type, for whom pianistic brilliance was no raison d'etre as such, but instead served a deep intellectual and emotional penetration of the music. This release is furnished with a ""producer's comment"" by Ludger Boeckenhoff.
(Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 in C op.18 (1900...)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2 in C op.18 (1900-1901)
1 moderato 9:40
2 Adagio sostenuto 11:12
3 Allegro scherzando 10:59
Julius Katchen, piano
New Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anatole Fistoulari
LP 30cm: Decca LXT 2595
Recording Kingsway Hall, London, 11-04-1951
Total time: 31:51
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Julius Katchen was an American pianist. During his music career, he performed with London Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française.
Background
Julius Katchen was born on August 15, 1926 in Long Branch, New Jersey, United States, the son of Ira J. Katchen, an attorney and municipal judge, and Lucille Svet. Both his parents were talented musicians and had studied with Katchen's maternal grandparents, who were graduates of the Warsaw Conservatory of Music and proprietors of a music studio in Newark, New Jesey.
Education
Katchen studied music with his maternal grandparents and received academic instruction at home from tutors. During his junior and senior years, he attended Long Branch High School, graduating in 1943. He also took weekly piano lessons from David Saperton in New York City. In 1943, Katchen enrolled at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, where he studied philosophy and English literature, graduating with the Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude in 1946. He was awarded a French government scholarship for academic study in Paris. Receiving permission to pursue musical studies instead, Katchen enrolled in 1946 in the Paris Conservatoire, where he was the pupil of Lazare Lévy.
Career
At eleven Katchen made his public debut performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466, with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on October 21, 1937. On November 22, Katchen played the same work with the New York Philharmonic under John Barbirolli. The critic Lawrence Gilman enthusiastically equated his ability with that of an earlier prodigy, Josef Hofmann. Later under the management of Columbia Artists, he performed in community concert series throughout the country and appeared on "The Ford Sunday Evening Hour" radio program. In 1946 Katchen gained instant acclaim when he performed seven programs with the Orchestre National and the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in an eleven-day span during the first United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization Festival in Paris. European concert engagements followed, and Katchen signed a recording contract in 1946.
He settled in Paris because he believed that Europe offered him "more chances for concert dates and a better climate for growth" than the United States. He toured extensively throughout Europe during the next twenty-two years and was particularly well received in London, which he regarded as the musical center of the world. He gave numerous recitals there, performed regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, and made forty-seven records for Decca, including the first long-playing record of a solo piano work ever made by a British firm, Brahms's F-Minor Sonata. Katchen seemed indefatigable in maintaining a performing schedule often in excess of 150 concerts a year.
Although it was not until late in his career that he visited the United States with any regularity, he performed continually throughout the world and appeared in numerous international music festivals. Katchen was equally in demand as a symphonic soloist and as a recitalist. His early reputation rested upon his dynamic interpretations of large-scale virtuosic works, especially those of Russian composers. His recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto sold over a million copies. Although he habitually eschewed modern works, finding them unmelodic, devoid of emotion, and laced with "ugly sounds, " Katchen occasionally played compositions of contemporary composers, including Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Ned Rorem, and Igor Stravinsky. But, as Rorem wrote, Katchen's "musical heart lay generally in Germany, " and his many memorable performances of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Schumann revealed his affinity for German music.
Katchen is best remembered for his interpretations of Brahms, and particularly for undertaking the monumental task of becoming, in 1964, the first pianist to perform, and subsequently record, the complete solo piano works of Brahms in a cycle of four consecutive recitals.
Katchen had a frank, outgoing personality and was a provocative and stimulating conversationalist. Generous in his support of young musicians, he taught a number of them without remuneration.
Interests
Katchen's principal nonmusical activity was collecting objects of art, and he became an acknowledged expert on Japanese netsukes.
Connections
On April 10, 1956, Katchen married Arlette Patoux. They had one child.