Volume 8 in Australian Decca’s Julius Katchen series offers rare solo recordings from the 1950s and ’60s. Most of these are new to CD and considerably flesh out what we know of the short-lived pianist’s artistry beyond his acclaimed solo Brahms cycle. He rides the gnarly technical hurdles of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie without a trace of compromise. He doesn’t slam down the brakes to accommodate the opening movement’s octave scales, and likewise keeps the second movement “Wanderer” theme afloat by not mooning over the right hand filigree. Rhetorical touches in the finale, however, distract more than they illuminate, and ditto for the pianist’s Schumann Arabesque. Katchen’s extroverted side is blown up to IMAX proportions in the Schumann Carnaval. It’s packed to the rafters with surreal rubatos, wacky inner voices, and fast movements fueled with extra caffeine. As if that weren’t enough, Katchen plays the forbidden “Sphinxes”, dolling up the cryptic notes with tremolos à la Rachmaninov. It’s the most insane Carnaval I’ve ever heard, and I love every bar of it!
If Schumann’s Toccata gets a similarly unbridled spin, the Chopin Second and Third Sonatas unfold with intelligent calm and direct musicality. Highlights from Katchen’s 1961 “Encores” collection include his rip-roaring, light-fingered Mendelssohn Andante and Rondo Capriccioso and a lusciously voiced Bach/Hess Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. His heartfelt rendition of the Mendelssohn/Liszt On Wings of Song evokes the ghosts of pianists past, all of whom had a knack for such chestnuts (Arthur Loesser used to call them “cream of corn”). Lastly, Katchen serves up two crowd-pleasers long associated with Artur Rubinstein (Claire de lune and the Ritual Fire Dance). Unfortunately, Katchen’s fussy right hand flame throwing is bereft of solid, left-hand underpinning. Yet Katchen fulfills every pianistic dare he undertakes in an overpowering romp through Chopin’s A-flat Polonaise. The heart-stopping results rank with Rubinstein, Horowitz, Cliburn, and Lhevinne among the best-recorded versions of this war-horse. Excellent annotations are provided, but no information regarding recording dates and venues. All in all, a treasure for piano collectors to savor.
