Julius Katchen

Julius Katchen recorded two Mozart piano concertos with Peter Maag and they both appear on this CD, together with the Six German Dances, KV 509 – ‘a magnificent example of the power of a genuinely charismatic conductor’ as Tully Potter notes in his liner notes. Katchen first entered Decca’s London studios in 1947 and was still heavily involved in a major Brahms project when he died of cancer in Paris, the city that had long been his home. He made his debut at the age of ten, playing the Mozart D minor concerto. Like Peter Maag, he was a philosopher, having completed a four-year course at Haverford College in three years. A musician of immense warmth – as witnessed in these Mozart readings – his colossal technique was always understated.

Unfairly neglected, Mozart’s C major Concerto, KV 415 is a gem. At the time of this recording (1955), it was only the third to appear. Cor de Groot’s performance had the honour of being the first LP version and this was preceded by Artur Balsam’s 78rpm recording. It was to be another five years before the concerto was to be recorded again – in 1960 by Clara Haskil. The D minor Concerto is Mozart’s most Beethovenian, and indeed it is Beethoven’s cadenzas that Katchen uses for his recording. (For the C major concerto, even though Mozart’s cadenzas survive, Katchen does not play them, using one of his own in the opening movement.) Word has it that Mozart wrote his delightful set of six German Dances, KV 509 in one hour during an enjoyable trip to Prague in 1787. Unfathomably neglected, they were taped for this recording in Kingsway Hall in January 1959 and make their first appearance here since their initial release on a ten-inch LP.

The American pianist Julius Katchen (1926–1969) was a child prodigy who at age 11 performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. In 1946 Katchen toured Europe, settled in Paris in late 1947 and became a frequent performer on the European concert platform.

His technique was ‘gold plated’ and despite his early death at aged 43 from cancer, he had a large discography which still sells today. In December 1968 he famously participated in the two-day spectacular known as the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus, playing the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata K545 and Falla’s ‘Ritual Fire Dance’ from El amor brujo.

Katchen made a major study of Brahms during his career and this 1967 live broadcast of Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, with the distinguished German conductor Rudolf Kempe, reflects his deep understanding of this composer.

This recording gives the collector the rare opportunity of hearing Katchen ‘live’ in comparison to his studio account made much earlier in 1959.

The fill-ups consist of familiar Katchen composers, Chopin and Liszt but also two new additions to his discography, Schumann's Prophet Bird Op.82, No.7 and Albéniz’s Triana.

Completing this CD is a rare interview with John Amis where Katchen discusses his early life including his thoughts on Mozart and Brahms interpretation.

These recordings have never been released before and have been remastered using ICA’s Ambient Mastering process which recreates the atmosphere of the concert hall.

Julius Katchen, that colossus that bestrode the pianistic firmament for all too short a time, recorded the Brahms Handel and Paganini Variations three times, twice in mono and once in stereo. Surprisingly, these much-praised 1958 recordings have never before been issued on CD and are now being made available singly, on Eloquence as well as part of an 8CD 'Original Masters' tribute Decca box. All of Katchen's dare-devilry in the Paganini set comes to the fore. The coupling, Schumann's Etudes symphoniques, likewise also receives its CD debut.

Jacques Abram and Julius Katchen give first performances of Britten’s two works for piano and orchestra and the composer directs the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra in an early recording of his Sinfonia da Requiem.