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Building on a lifetime of study and stunning pianism
Programme Contents:
Notes on the recording: This collection brings together recordings made across three decades. Beginning with a very rare private LP recording made in 1976, carefully transferred and restored from the only known copy by Peter Harrison, it also takes in live concert recordings from the 1990s and 2006, and marked the beginning of a new recording relationship between Peter Harrison at disk2disc and Dr. Katin, who have since made a number of new studio recordings together.. One of the historic fruits of this relationship was our recent issue of Katin's 1958 Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, the first time any recording of a Brahms Concerto has been made available from this artist, and we look forward to more to come in the future.
Musical Notes by Peter Katin
SONATA
IN B MINOR, Op.58 Here is Chopin at the height of his powers. Everything that had gone before could be seen as leading up to this incredible outpouring of ideas, of contrasts, of a whole world of emotions, and perhaps most of all pride, that unmistakable and ruling quality of the Polish people. All this is firmly put together in the B minor Sonata and what emerges is without doubt one of the greatest of all romantic piano works - even more so when one considers that it was written in the shadow of his father’s death. Of course it has been said that too many ideas have been crammed into the first movement, and it is true that because of this, conventional sonata form needed far more flexibility than usual. But the main problem is for the performer to hold it all in one piece, and the (often-ignored) "maestoso" direction at the start gives the key to the movement’s general treatment, which will give all the ideas room to breathe, and however one sees it, it is a masterpiece in itself. It is balanced by three other movements of far greater simplicity and directness. The scherzo movement, for instance, is a feathery cascade of notes heard twice in identical form and contrasted by a syncopated middle section, and the Largo consists of a long expansive theme, an introspective central part of ever-shifting gentle colours, and after a hushed return to the first theme the coda glows with autumnal beauty. The commanding introduction to the finale shatters this twilight mood, and plunges into a triumphant dance (not unlike the early Tarantella) which leads its vigorous and irresistible way to an overwhelming coda in the major key that seems to sweep the hearer up to a level of unrestrained jubilation.
THREE WALTZES, Op.64 When one
considers Chopin’s state of mind during his last years it becomes
apparent that, far from being the indecisive character he has so often
been thought, he wrote even then with a very real objectivity, and here
the music tells of a special charm that he could hardly have felt at the
time. The first two Waltzes are perhaps the best known of the whole collection,
the D flat major having survived some quite inexcusable treatment springing
mainly from the title “Minute Waltz” that was wished upon it.
The last one is really the most inventive and I am unable to think why
it has been so neglected.
If I am inclined to look upon this work as a Ballade it is because the structure is easily recognised - but then one could be tempted to regard, say, the F minor Ballade as a Fantasy as it seems less organised! The sombre march which unfolds the Fantasy is a fairly extended idea, yet it is not heard again, for a new theme, starting tentatively, grows with increasing confidence until it becomes agitated and syncopated before it is suddenly transformed into a new key and a flow of ardent poetry. This is in turn interrupted by a dramatic outcry which starts a precipitation towards a strong and positive statement in chords and contrary motion octaves leading to a purposeful "quick march", after which the former turbulence impatiently resumes. Gradually everything unwinds and settles into a new idea, in B major, an oasis of calm, moving along its course with slow dignity, then stopped, unresolved, by a chord which cuts through the mood like a knife, the former unrest continuing as though it had not stopped. The coda brings it to a halt with a fortissimo repetition of the B major sections two bars, then it relents with three recitative like phrases, and after a harking back to the first stormy figuration two commanding chords bring this fine, big-scale work to an end.
ANDANTE SPIANATO AND GRANDE POLONAISE, Op.22 Properly called "Grande Polonaise Brillante, précédée d’un Andante Spianato", the Polonaise was originally written for piano and orchestra and was completed in 1831. The Andante came three years later, both works being published in 1836 with what, I have to admit, is a somewhat lame introduction to the Polonaise, especially when played on the piano (the original was written for orchestra and at least has trumpets to help it out!), and when Chopin mentioned the work in a letter he did say that there was not a "proper beginning". At all events, the Andante progresses as smoothly as a brook, with an expansive palette of sound to which the trio (a hint of the Mazurka rhythm) is hardly a contrast but halts the flow rather like an unexpected reminiscence. After this, there is really no profundity to be found in the Polonaise, but then in the matter of embellishment Chopin already knew how far he could go. I have always contended that his ornamentation was necessary to the music and not just there for display, and what might be tricks in other hands form an integral part of the music where Chopin was concerned. The Polonaise is a work of youthful exuberance, but there is also eloquence, dignity, playfulness, and (especially in the coda) tremendous panache.
WALTZ IN A FLAT MAJOR, Op.69 No.1 In the Waltzes it would be perhaps unfair to look for and real depth of character. The Waltz was, and still is, a salon piece and it is most rewarding to observe through them Chopin’s talent for bringing such wide contrasts to a simple dance form. Notes by Peter Katin (Author’s copyright ©2006)
Peter Katin biographical notes from www.peterkatin.com Peter Katin's reputation for his Chopin interpretations is legendary. He embarked on a detailed study of the composer in 1969, his recording of the Nocturnes a year later was highly acclaimed, and his annual Chopin recitals in London have become major events in the city's musical calendar. Born in London, Peter Katin’s musical talent was evident at the age of four, and he was admitted to the senior department of the Royal Academy of Music when he was twelve, four years before the official age of entry. The success of his Wigmore Hall début in 1948 started him on a career that has taken him throughout the world (he was the first British artist to give a post-war solo tour of the then USSR), and in those earlier years he was greatly influenced by his meetings with Clifford Curzon, Claudio Arrau and Myra Hess, who gave him much advice for which he has always been deeply grateful. His early successes seemed centred round the classical composers; he was greatly in demand for Mozart concerto performances in particular and he also developed a rare talent for chamber music. However, a performance of Rachmaninov's D minor Concerto in 1953 changed his image almost overnight, and hailed as a virtuoso of the first order he was constantly in demand for the most taxing of romantic concertos until the late sixties, but by that time he decided that he needed to make a more in-depth study of the composers who had almost escaped him when he was immersed in the big major works. The first composer in this specialised study was Chopin, and since that time he has become regarded as one of the finest interpreters of this composer's music. He was sufficiently encouraged to make similar studies of Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and Liszt, and as a result has given a number of one-composer recitals. His repertoire now is very flexible and he is happy about performing concertos by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms in one week, while keeping a very wide variety of styles in his recital programmes. His constant encouragement of the preserving of individuality in young artists has been one factor in the conferral during 1994 of an Honorary Doctorate by De Montfort University, and as a teacher, he has had highly successful years at the Royal Academy of Music, The University of Western Ontario, the Royal College of Music and Thames Valley University. He has now almost forty recordings, more than at any other time in his career, which have been received with critical superlatives. These include the complete Chopin Nocturnes and Impromptus, Grieg Lyric Pieces, Chopin Waltzes and Polonaises and the Rachmaninov Preludes. A live performance of a recital including the Liszt Sonata was released to a rave review in Classic CD. His interest in period pianos has resulted in three such recordings, as well as an all-Chopin programme on his own Collard & Collard 1836, and another on a Broadwood grand that was used by Chopin on the occasion of his last visit to London. Peter Katin gave an anniversary recital at Wigmore Hall on 13 December 1998, exactly fifty years from the date of his début, celebrated his seventieth birthday in November 2000, and his seventy-fifth birthday in 2005. His acclaimed recording of the complete Mozart sonatas were reissued by Altara Music in July 2008, a new CD of four Haydn sonatas will be issued later in the year, as will a Chopin recital from Somm Recordings.
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