The News 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 21st 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.

Cover album

Bach Recital

World première recordings

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.

P21 007

Bach Transcriptions

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 Sergueï Rachmaninov 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.

P21 017-N

Cover album
Cover album

Bach & Sons
5 Piano Concertos

World première recordings

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.

P21 013

Mozart Transcriptions
Symphony no. 40 (Hummel), The Magic Flute (Bizet)...

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.

P21 018

Cover album
Cover album

Latin-American Recital
Mexico

World première recordings

Having explored the realm of Mexican piano music, Cyprien Katsaris has chosen a selection of pieces which reveal two major characteristics of the variety and the quality of this repertoire: romanticism and folkloric inspiration.
This CD is a deft, generally light-spirited collection of short Mexican pieces by Manuel Ponce, Juventino Rosas, Julio Ituarte, José Rolón, Rubén M. Campos, Alfredo Carrasco, and others. Those who think of Katsaris as a slightly hard pianist should turn to his poetic reading of Ponce’s bittersweet First Intermezzo or his dexterous and succulent account of Rolón’s Valse-Caprice on Rosas’s Sobre las Olas. The centrepiece of the recital is a series of 20 National Airs skilfully arranged by Rubén M. Campos, which showcases Katsaris’ extraordinary sensitivity in the dreamier numbers. Katsaris demonstrates an empathy with this repertoire that is utterly enchanting and captivating, as witness his exquisitely swung performance of Flacchebba’s atmospheric Danza Criolla.
By turns brilliant and sensual, picturesque and spiritual, Katsaris joyfully shares this music and offers it, exquisitely delicately packaged, to the world. A mysterious waft of the exotic permeates the aura of pure wellbeing…

P21 002

Live at Carnegie Hall, New York City
In Memoriam Chopin

This double CD contains the triumphant recital – also available on DVD – given by Cyprien Katsaris on 17th October 1999 in Carnegie Hall in memory of Frédéric Chopin on the 150th 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.

P21 003

Cover album
Cover album

Sergei Bortkiewicz
Piano Works

World première recordings

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 of the Preludes and Etudes of this little-known composer. Offering us a varied sequence of slow and fast pieces, Katsaris’ delightful recital admits us to the enveloping nostalgia of Bortkiewicz’s music.

P21 004

A Tribute to Cyprus
Halévy/Wagner, Schubert...

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.

P21 015

Cover album
Cover album

Piano Rarities
Vol. 1 - Transcriptions

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 Praeludium 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.

P21 030-N

Piano Rarities
Vol. 2 - French Composers

World première recordings

With this second “Piano Rarities” album, Cyprien Katsaris honours an outpost of the French School little heeded on disc or in concert. True, Debussy, Ravel, the group of Six and Messiaen and Boulez symbolise the renewal of musical aesthetics, especially in writing for the piano, but there are others like Déodat de Séverac, Albert Lavignac, Noël and Jean Gallon and Simone Plé who presented us with subtle, expressive works that express wondrously that peculiarly French amalgam of allure and sustained emotion. This album offers up the sarcastic humour of Jean Wiener, the utter finesse of Jean-Michel Damase’s writing and the charm of pieces by Lean-Jacques Laubry and René Berthelot. Placing these with contemporary compositions by Stéphane Blet, Yves Claoué, Michel Sogny and the young composer Jacob Tardien, Cyprien Katsaris demonstrates the enormous diversity of the current musical language. However, it is with the five Etudes of Jean-Amedée Lefroid de Méreaux, here receiving their first recording anywhere, that this album will whet the appetites of melomanes and pianists alike. The improvisation on themes by French film music composers offered by Cyprien Katsaris at a concert in Japan provides a dazzling highlight to this passionate homage to French music.

P21 037-N

Cover album
Cover album

Piano Rarities
Vol. 3 - Transcriptions

World première recordings

With this third volume in the series “Piano Rarities”, Cyprien Katsaris continues exploring the almost limitless world of transcriptions for solo piano. This album, largely devoted to Russian and Central European composers, offers us tastes of the many aspects of the art of transcription. Melodies by Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Moniuszko and Karłowicz offer up their charms in these arrangements in which transcribers each pits his ingenuity against the others’, imparting to them the qualities of true piano romances. The orchestral music of Khachaturian lends itself wonderfully to the piano: the extravagant virtuosity of the Sabre Dance keeps easy company with such moving pieces as the Lullaby or the Adagio from Spartacus; Suite no. 2 for two pianos by Rachmaninov, freed from the constraints of having two performers, comes across with the style of a single player, so gaining in coherence; the Adagio from Symphony no. 2, by the same composer, is striking in the immediacy of its emotion and the richness of its transcription for the piano.

P21 045-N

Album d’un Voyageur
Europe

World première recordings

“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.

P21 032-N

Cover album
Cover album

Viennese Connections
Beethoven, Schubert, Hüttenbrenner, Diabelli & Liszt

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.

P21 033-N

Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 2
The 4 Versions

World première recordings

In the 19th 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 2nd and 3rd 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 1st movement.

P21 038-N

Cover album
Cover album

Cyprien Katsaris plays Chopin
Live Recordings

Frédéric Chopin is a composer to whom Cyprien Katsaris has returned time and again throughout his career, notably with his recordings of the complete Sonatas, Ballades, Preludes, Waltzes, Scherzos and Polonaises and with his memorable “Homage to Chopin” recital at the Carnegie Hall on 17 October 1999, the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death. There have also been numerous concerts in which the Franco-Polish composer’s works have featured. This new recording bears witness to Cyprien Katsaris’ devotion to the prodigious pianist and composer. Distilled from various recitals, the programme comprises a set of universally loved pieces garnished with lesser-known compositions and some rare transcriptions.

P21 043-N

Cyprien Katsaris plays Liszt
Gipsy & Romantic • Avant-Garde, Hommage à Wagner, The Philosopher

Franz Liszt was arguably the most diverse of all composers in the range of his musical creativity. The double CD in this first volume offers us five aspects of Liszt, all equally fascinating:
A) The Gypsy, with its immensely popular Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 (Liszt’s cadenzas) and the no less beautiful Rhapsodies nos. 3, 5 and 7.
B) The Romantic, with its sublime Love Dream no. 3, its lyrical Elegies and Klavierstücke, along with the noble and impassioned Concerto no. 2, performed with the splendid Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester under the baton of Arild Remmereit.
C) Revelatory of Liszt’s avant-garde genius are the Prelude and Funeral March, Unstern! - Sinistre and Grey Clouds, with their sometimes bizarre, atonal harmonies prefiguring Scriabin, Debussy and Schoenberg.
D) The composer’s funeral homage to his friend and son-in-law Wagner is represented by the two Mournful Gondolas, R. W. Venezia and At the Grave of Richard Wagner.
E) Lastly we come to Liszt the philosopher and the greatest of his masterpieces, the Sonata in B minor, wherein we apprehend the creation of the universe and the destiny of man. The first two notes express the beginning of creation, by God or spiritual powers, according to one’s beliefs. These first two Gs represent the first and second particles of matter, and the descending scale that follows gives continuity to this matter which acquires movement, simultaneously creating space and time. Then follow great leaps on both hands, an explosion, a Big Bang, akin to the origin of the universe which in turn engenders life itself. Following on comes the Sonata, symbolising the universe and its development, its complexity, but also the human race and its destiny, its emotions, conflicts, revolutions and moments of fulfilment. The work ends, in its final, sublime chords, in a reaching-out to immortality through the liberation of the spirit, the soul set free from the trammels of the physical universe. In this final moment of transcendence, it feels as though Liszt is offering magisterial guidance in courage and hope.

P21 041-N

Cover album
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