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.
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
1 Praeludium and Allegro in the style of Pugnani
Arrangement de concert: N. Vaneyev *
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
2 Mondnacht, op. 39 no. 5
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
3 Gesang (An Sylvia), op. 106 no. 4, D. 891
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
4 Der Engel (no. 1 from Wesendonck-Lieder)
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
5 Zueignung, op. 10 no. 1
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
6 Adagietto (from Symphony no. 5)
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Federico Mompou (1893-1987)
7 Damunt de tu només les flors
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909)
8 Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944)
9 Chôro Da Saudade
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
10 Adieux de l’Hôtesse arabe
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
11 Nell, op. 18 no. 1
Transcription: Karol A. Penson *
Léo Delibes (1836-1891)
12 Valse (from Coppélia ou la Fille aux yeux d’émail)
Transcription: Ernö Dohnányi
Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872)
13 Gwiazdka
Transcription: Bernhard Wolff *
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
14 Vocalise
Transcription: Sergio Fiorentino
Reinhold Glière (1875-1956)
15 Valse (from The Bronze Horseman)
Transcription: David A. Pritzker *
* 
Reviews
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Enchanting 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 […] 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.
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!
Katsaris fills these many and varied transcriptions with a sense of utter brio. Even in the more tranquil passages there is a sense of something irrepressible about his playing. As such, it is also irresistible. Grandeur, joy, fun, all are here, in a programme that embraces some real rarities. Plenty to discover, much to enjoy.
Gramphone (United Kingdom)
This is, quite simply, an extraordinary recital. […]. Yes, there is his jaw-dropping performance of the Tárrega, an exhausting three-and-a-half minutes of non-stop repeated notes that makes the repeated notes in Ravel’s “Alborado” seem mild; Penson himself calls the performance “a truly dazzling achievement”, and he’s absolutely right. Then, too, there are some high-flying riffs in the Delibes and the Glière. For the most part, though, the transcriptions wear their difficulties with modesty, serving to highlight the original music rather than to use it as a launch pad for keyboard self-promotion – and even in the Tárrega, the music’s smoky nostalgia takes priority over the technical challenge. The music sounds especially pure in these technically immaculate performances, in which the physical challenges are all but inaudible. Certainly, as I’ve said, listening to the limpid reading of Nell, you’d never guess that Penson’s transcription was as demanding as it is.
But if the music sounds pure, it never sounds characterless. Whether in the harmonic succulence of the Penson’s richly harmonized Mompou (which elaborates greatly on the original sounds), the haunting shadows of the Mahler (which sounds almost as if made for the piano here), the sugary elegance of the Delibes, the surging passion of the Strauss. The Tristan-esque yearning of the Wagner, the pseudo-Baroque splendour of the Kreisler (played with a mesmerizing rubato), or the wit of the Moniuszko (a real find), Katsaris draws out the essence of each piece with unfailing tact and an enviable sonority – but with individuality as well. All in all, his commitment to Penson is evident – and well deserved. The sound on my pre-production was first-rate too. Not exactly centrist material – but “piano nuts” (to use Katsaris’s phrase) should put it near the top of their lists.
Fanfare (USA)
Not since the heyday of Georges Cziffra and Earl Wild has there been a pianist who can throw off a virtuoso encore with such overwhelming aplomb and old-world charm as Cyprien Katsaris. Such is the charisma, infectious bravado and thrilling sonority of the opening transcription of Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro that I listened to it over and over for fear of breaking the spell with the rest of the recital. Of course, I shouldn’t have worried. Whether in the enraptured poetic sensitivity of Schumanns’ Mondnacht, the almost impossible dynamic and tonal control of the Mahler Adagietto, the tremulous repetitions of Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra, the staggering virtuosity of the Glière and Delibes waltzes, or the meltingly phrased Rachmaninoff Vocalise, Katsaris is at the very peak of his form. One of the all-time great piano-encore discs.
International Piano (United Kingdom)
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 Fifth Symphony, the Waltz from Coppélia and Rachmaninov’s Vocalise: in solo piano interpretation, they lose nothing of the emotional and poetic impact of their originals. A tireless explorer, Cyprien Katsaris challenges our curiosity and unveils true masterpieces […]. […] 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.
www.prestoclassical.co.uk (United Kingdom)
Champion incontesté dans le domaine de la transcription – cf. ses symphonies de Beethoven/Liszt, insurpassées –, Cyprien Katsaris remet régulièrement cet art difficile au goût du jour. Cette fois, plutôt que d’être allé chercher des paraphraseurs célèbres, il a, pour la majorité des œuvres figurant au programme, retenu le travail de Karol A. Penson – par ailleurs professeur de physique à la Faculté de Paris Jussieu. Ce dernier s’acquitte de la tâche qui consiste à rendre jouable au piano des partitions qui ne lui sont pas a priori destinées, avec une science étonnante. Ceci, conjugué au talent du pianiste, à ses connaissances en matière sonore et acoustique, à sa capacité à transcender les musiques les plus ardues, donne un résultat criant de vérité, qu’il s’agisse d’une mélodie de Fauré ou de l’Adagietto de la Symphonie n° 5 de Mahler. On retiendra aussi la Valse de Coppélia (transcrite par Dohnanyi), la Vocalise de Rachmaninov (vue par Fiorentino) ou la Valse du Cavalier d’airain de Glière (réécrite par Pritzker) comme autant de témoignages de l’originalité du programme et de la subtilité de l’interprète. Magnifiant les contours, faisant chanter le piano comme peu savent encore le faire aujourd’hui, Katsaris, avec une gourmandise non dissimulée, se fait plaisir autant qu’à nous. « Volume I », peut-on lire ? Vivement la suite !
Diapason (France)
Ce grand défricheur devant l’éternel, ce grand musicien tout court qu’est Cyprien Katsaris, nous propose un inattendu bouquet de transcriptions. […]. Quant à l’Adagietto de la 5e Symphonie de Mahler, voilà un fantasme enfin réalisé pour nombre de pianistes, amateurs ou professionnels, qui s’empresseront d’essayer de dénicher la partition. Le transcripteur, Karol A. Penson, auteur de dix des quinze transcriptions de ce disque, a eu le goût, dans cette œuvre, de poser avec parcimonie les trémolos, véritable plaie des transcriptions : dépouillée mais pas austère, cette poignante élégie révèle ainsi une richesse harmonique rare.
Pianiste (France)
Auf seiner aktuellen CD legt der großartige Pianist eine Anzahl bekannter und gänzlich unbekannter Transkriptionen vor. […]. Zwei Drittel der Transkriptionen hat Karol A. Penson vorgenommen und ist dabei mit der nötigen Werktreue und Ausgewogenheit an die Orchester-, Vokal- und Instrumentalwerke gegangen – schliesslich existieren bereits einige erstklassige Bearbeitungen der grossen Werke von Godowsky, Liszt oder Brahms. Cyprien Katsaris hat seine pianistische Kunst an der ganz großen Konzertliteratur längst bewiesen und es ist ein hörbarer Spaß und Genuss für ihn, abseits des Weges nach musikalischen Perlen zu suchen. […]. Miniaturen zum Schweigen, Schmunzeln und Schweigen.
Piano News (Germany), www.pianonews.de
Es ist bewundernswert, wie Cyprien Katsaris in den schlichteren Transkriptionen lange, fast vokale Bögen zu spannen und unendlich subtil zu registrieren vermag.
Fono Forum (Germany)
Là, c’est l’intelligence du virtuose qui gouverne, avec le raffinement poétique et l’habileté pianistique en plus.
Pizzicato (Luxembourg)
Cyprien Katsaris ne finira pas d’étonner. […]. [Le CD intitulé « Piano Rarities • Vol. 1 • Transcriptions »] fait […] preuve d’une grande originalité, tant par les compositeurs choisis (Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Delibes, Glière, Kreisler, Mompou, Moniuszko et Tárrega voisinent avec Bizet, Fauré, Mahler, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Schumann, R. Strauss et Wagner) que par les transcripteurs ; car si le pianiste franco-chypriote s’est déjà lui-même illustré en adaptant Bach, Beethoven ou Mozart, il n’apparaît ici qu’en tant qu’interprète de quinze morceaux, dont treize premières discographiques ; parmi les six arrangeurs, l’un est connu (Ernö Dohnányi) mais les cinq autres gagnent à l’être – un mystérieux N. Vaneyev, Bernhard Wolff (1835-1906), Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998), David Pritzker (1902-1978), et, surtout, Karol A. Penson, professeur de physique dans le civil, qui signe les deux tiers de ces quinze plages.
www.concertonet.com (France)