Welcome to the Chopin Preludes danger zone, folks. Your host: Cyprien Katsaris, who invites you to take a walk on the wild side. If you think Horowitz had a monopoly on octave thunderbolts, you haven’t heard Katsaris level an entire city with the F minor and G minor preludes. The pianist also leaves his individual imprint on lyrical selections such as the preludes in B minor, A major, F-sharp major, D-flat major, and B-flat major–listen to the latter’s unusually intensified left-hand lines, for example. The seldom-heard Bolero delivers equitable portions of earthy swagger and affetuoso teasing. By contrast, Katsaris escorts the Op. 45 C-sharp minor prelude through a relatively direct and easier-to-navigate interpretive route. Even the short miscellaneous works that make up the disc’s remainder benefit from this pianist’s sharp attention to detail and character. In sum, collectors who embrace the Op. 28 Preludes’ potential for compelling subjectivity will find Katsaris a kindred spirit to Argerich and Sokolov. It’s nice to see this well-recorded, underappreciated 1992 release back in the catalog, courtesy of Arkivmusic.com’s on-demand reissue program.
