New releases

After more than twenty years of recording for the major labels, I decided to create my own. The venture was launched in January 2001, at the dawn of the 21^st century; hence my choice of PIANO 21 as an appropriate title. This is the vehicle for my own recordings, some of them of live performances. They comprise both new recordings and tracks from private and radiophonic archives from various countries as well as re-issues. PIANO 21 gives expression to my twofold passion to share not only music from the major repertoire – naturally – but also the discovery of rare and less well known works.

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Album d’un Voyageur • Vol. 1 • EUROPE

P21 032-N

“Album d’un Voyageur” was the title chosen by Franz Liszt for a collection of nineteen pieces that he published in 1835 – 1836 following a trip to Switzerland. His career as a virtuoso pianist meant incessant travelling. Here, Cyprien Katsaris offers a kaleidoscope of works that he too plays on his many trips. Always aiming to please his cosmopolitan public, the pianist chooses, frequently for encores, works that typify the countries he visits. From time to time he will, just prior to a concert, learn a piece by a composer from the country in question or improvise upon traditional tunes from that country. This album offers an original, thrilling programme assembled in the course of Cyprien’s many trips and constituting a veritable musical journey through Europe. This alternates between celebrated works – the Brahms and Dvořák Dances, all played with his personal touch, or the Blue Danube as paraphrased by Eduard Schütt, Albéniz’s Tango and Sibelius’ own transcription of Finlandia – and a number of magnificent shorter pieces in which Cyprien Katsaris introduces us to such composers as the Estonian Heino Eller, the Icelandic Jón Leifs, the Greek Grigoris Constantinidis and his own Cypriot compatriot Nicolas Economou.

Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 2 in F Minor, op. 21 | The 4 Versions

Chopin, Concerto n° 2 en fa mineur, op. 21 | les 4 versions

P21 038-N

This CD features a number of world première recordings

In the 19^th Century it was customary for concertos to be performed publicly in four different versions, designed for both salons and concert halls. This double CD features the first-ever offering world première recording of the four versions of Chopin’s Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21:
1. For Piano and Orchestra, with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edvard Tchivzhel.
2. For solo piano: Chopin’s own arrangement.
3. For piano and string quintet, with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra Quintet, in the arrangement by pianist David Lively, versions by contemporaries of Chopin not having survived.
4. For two pianos, where the second instrument plays transcriptions of the orchestral parts: Chopin’s own score for the tutti; that of his friend Jules Fontana for the accompaniment to the 2^nd and 3^rd movements and that of the publishers of the National Edition of the Works of Frédéric Chopin, Jan Ekier and Paweł Kamiński, for the accompaniment to the 1^st movement.

Allegro • The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

KR 622

Cyprien Katsaris recorded the music for the Danish film “Allegro” (www.allegrofilm.dk). Directed by Christoffer Boe, winner of Golden Camera Award (Caméra d’Or) for “Reconstruction” (2003), it features Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen and international top model Helena Christensen in the lead. The soundtrack consists exclusively of music by Johann Sebastian Bach: pieces for solo piano but also movements from concertos, which Cyprien Katsaris recorded with the South West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim (Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim) conducted by Sebastian Tewinkel.

Viennese Connections

P21 033-N • (2 CD)

This CD features a number of world première recordings

This double CD features works both famous and lesser-known by five composers who had direct or indirect links in Vienna: Beethoven, Schubert, Hüttenbrenner, Diabelli and Liszt. Beethoven completed his Sonata Pathétique shortly after the birth of Schubert, who was 20 years old when he composed his 13 Variations on a surprising theme by Hüttenbrenner which in turn echoes the famous second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, here presented in Liszt’s transcription. All five musicians composed various dances during this period in Vienna, including Waltz S. 208a composed by Liszt in 1823 during his studies in Vienna and Beethoven’s Second Contradance which features the first appearance of the famous theme of the finale of the Eroica Symphony. Here also are the first-ever versions recorded anywhere of three works: Reinecke’s piano transcription of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, the manuscript of which Schubert had given to Hüttenbrenner; then, from Hüttenbrenner himself – a composer lapsed into undeserved obscurity – two funeral tributes to his friends Beethoven and Schubert, the magnificent Variations Op. 2 and the waltzes based on Schubert’s Erlkönig. The omnipresent Liszt offers us his own astonishing transcriptions of the Erlkönig and the Young Nun. Then we have the Viennese composer and publisher Anton Diabelli, best known for his Sonatinas, who requested fifty composers to write variations on his own Waltz: those of Hüttenbrenner, Schubert, Liszt (who was 11 years old) and four of Beethoven’s 33 Variations Op. 120 feature in this recording
Cyprien Katsaris

Piano Rarities • Vol. 1 • Transcriptions

P21 030-N

This CD features a number of world première recordings

This first volume in the series “Piano Rarities” is guaranteed to thrill questing music lovers. On this CD Cyprien Katsaris visits the vast realm of piano transcriptions and adaptations. Here, you will find well-known and well-loved works like the Lieder of Schumann, Schubert, Wagner and Richard Strauss, Mahler’s Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony, the Waltz from Coppélia and Rachmaninov’s Vocalise: in solo piano transcription, they lose nothing of the emotional and poetic impact of their originals. A tireless explorer, Cyprien Katsaris challenges our curiosity and unveils true masterpieces, including works by Latin-American and Spanish composers like Tárrega, Barrios Mangoré and Mompou. Who could resist the magnificent transcription of the Prelude and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani by Kreisler which opens the programme, or the sparkling Valse by Reinhold Glière which brings it to its close? Here, through his choices and his interpretations, Cyprien Katsaris emerges once more as a thrilling man of music.
The appeal of this album owes much to the transcriptions of Professor Karol A. Penson, an eminent practising scientist whose contribution to the enrichment of the art and the repertoire of the piano is extraordinary.

A Tribute to Cyprus

P21 015

This CD features a number of world première recordings

Cyprien Katsaris shares with us his love for Cyprus – his island homeland – with its scents, poetry and magic. This original “Tribute to Cyprus” is a kind of panoply of music by European composers directly inspired by Cyprus. He has devised an admirably eclectic and diverse programme, both intelligently constructed and contrasted, but of undeniable logic and coherence. On this disc, there are seven pieces recorded for the first time anywhere, all associated with this country of history and legend. In particular, we have Wagner’s arrangement of two excerpts from The Queen of Cyprus by Halévy; a transcription of Rosamunde Princess of Cyprus by Schubert, and various pieces by Rosenhain (Morceau de Concert on The Queen of Cyprus, Op. 34), Jensen (Songs of Ionia, Erotikon, Op. 44), Popy (Ode to Venus, Grande Valse) and Fuleihan (Cypriana)… and Cyprien Katsaris’ own Cypriot Rhapsody. This piece, which unveils yet another facet of this pianist’s protean talents, was composed in 1978 for a charity concert in aid of Cypriot refugees, victims of the war of 1974.

Sergei Bortkiewicz • Piano Works

P21 004

If you enjoy Tchaikovsky, Scriabin and Rachmaninov, you are very likely to be taken with the Russian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz in this selection of his most engaging pieces, with their ravishing melodies and sensitive and richly coloured sonorities. Bortkiewicz espoused a resolutely post-romantic aesthetic; several of his works bespeak the influence of Chopin and Liszt. Cyprien Katsaris, showing his customary virtuosity and enthusiasm, includes here some.

In Memoriam Chopin • Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City

P21 003 • (2 CD)

This double CD contains the triumphant recital – also available on DVD – given by Cyprien Katsaris on October 17, 1999 in Carnegie Hall in memory of Frédéric Chopin on the 150^th anniversary of the composer’s death. Both parts of the programme begin with a funeral march – including the celebrated one from Sonata No. 2 Op. 35 – followed by some of Chopin’s most popular works, including the Fantasy-Impromptu Op. 66, the Lullaby Op. 57, the Polonaise “Militaire” Op. 40 No. 1, the Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2, the Mazurka Op. 67 No. 4, the Fantasy Op. 49, the Barcarolle Op. 60 and the Sonata No. 3 Op. 58... Katsaris presents us with anything but a routine reading of the Polish composer’s work. His approach is highly personal: unexpected counter-tones in his turn of phrase, tempi that are often unusual, breaks and contrasts informing dynamics, articulation and pedal work.

Beethoven • The Creatures of Prometheus, op. 43

P21 001

World Première Recording

PIANO 21’s first CD offers a unique opportunity to hear the first-ever recording of Beethoven’s ballet The Creatures of Prometheus, as arranged for the piano by the composer. This version, published by Beethoven before the orchestral score, was bizarrely ignored by pianists for some two hundred years... Cyprien Katsaris lays hold of the piece in a performance that brings out its climatic versatility, deploying a whole panoply of nuance, tone and sonority. The CD also features the only piano arrangement Beethoven ever made of one of his own symphonies: the first forty-six bars of the Seventh Symphony.

Mozart Transcriptions

P21 018

This CD features a number of world première recordings

On this disk, Cyprien Katsaris interprets transcriptions of certain scenes of the Magic Flute as treated by both Georges Bizet and Georges Mathias. Cyprien here plays not only the arrangement of the Overture of the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart himself, but also his own transcription of Belmonte’s first aria “Then must I see you here”. We can also discover the piano arrangement of the famous Symphony No. 40 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. This CD ends with “A Little Night Music”, scored for solo piano by the New York pianist and composer Matthew Cameron.

The Mozart Family

P21 019

This CD features a number of world première recordings

This recording is dedicated to the three composers in the Mozart family: we discover Leopold Mozart through his Sonata in C major and the popular Toy Symphony arranged for piano by the American Matthew Cameron. Wolfgang Amadeus features on this CD with a selection of compositions he wrote as a 5 to 8-year-old boy. In addition, there is a piece written by Wolfgang to his sister Nannerl and another in which he erects a musical monument to his wife Constanze and his sister-in-law Sophie. From Franz Xaver Mozart, we have selected the 7 Variations on the Minuet of the opera “Don Giovanni”, the Sonata for Piano in G major and the Polonaise mélancolique in E minor.

Bach & Sons • 5 Piano Concertos

P21 013

A tireless seeker of unfairly neglected works, Katsaris here offers an original programme on disc. This brings together for the first time five of the most beautiful concertos of the Bach family: Johann Sebastian, the famous father, and his sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Johann Christian, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Cyprien is here accompanied by the Echternach Festival Chamber Orchestra under the baton of the Korean Conductor Yoon K. Lee. The pianist’s personal, disciplined approach carries the hallmark of a meticulous, inquisitive musical interpreter whose familiarity with this repertoire renders any philological squabbling irrelevant. He allows his inspiration free rein in these works, whence emerges their entire evolution, from Johann Sebastian’s rigorous polyphony to Wilhelm Friedemann’s pre-romantic development to Carl Philipp Emanuel’s robust theatricality.

Bach • Vol. 2 • Transcriptions

P21 017-N

This CD features a number of world première recordings

This CD invites you to discover the transcribing works of Bach which inspired Mario Feninger (Siciliano, BWV 1031), Dame Myra Hess (Adagio from the Toccata for Organ, BWV 564) and Alexander Il’yich Ziloti (Prelude, BWV 855a). It also includes the transcriptions by Theodor Szántó (Prelude and Fugue, BWV 542), Camille Saint-Saëns (Largo from the Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005), Wilhelm Kempff (“Awake! the voice is calling to us!”, BWV 645) and by Serge Rachmaninoff and Ignaz Friedman each producing his own new-minted version of the Gavotte en Rondeau, BWV 1006. Cyprien Katsaris here offers us among other things Bach’s four-part close harmony versions of the melodies by Johann Schop and Philipp Nicolai. He also provides us with arrangements of his own, namely those of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 and of the Badinerie, BWV 1067.

Bach Recital • Vol. 1 • Original Works

P21 007

This first volume of a series devoted to J. S. Bach affords an opportunity to compare the two versions of Prelude No. 1 in C major (First Book of the Well-tempered Clavier), along with such major works as Partita No. 1, BWV 825 and the French Suite No. 2, BWV 813, and rarer but no less inspiring pieces like the Prelude (Fantasy) in C minor, BWV 921, and the Fugue in A minor, BWV 959. At once both rigorous and hedonistic while avoiding extravagance or austerity, Katsaris succeeds in fusing a rich, full touch with a limpid contrapuntal structure. This programme is both surprising and admirably designed, with a logical through line of continuity.