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Cyprien Katsaris' Beethoven Odyssey · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  Hello, this is Jed Disler, and you are tuned
• 0:11
  into The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
• 0:16
  to piano recordings. This is the 255th anniversary
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  of Beethoven's birth. And for the 250th anniversary
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  year, which was the year that coincided with
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  COVID, there were still quite a few Beethoven
• 0:37
  releases popping up all over the place. And one
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  of the most interesting of them was a box set
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  of six CDs with the pianist Cyprian Katsaris
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  on his own Piano 21 label. is a really fascinating
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  collection. And it contains a lot of transcriptions,
• 1:01
  as you would expect, because Cyprian Katsaris
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  is the world's foremost transcription maniac.
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  He's played through and recorded more piano transcriptions
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  than anyone else, I would say. But in this collection,
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  he has recorded some of the Beethoven sonatas,
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  numbers 1, 5, 10, 14, 17, 23, the Appassionata,
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  number 24, and then the last one, Opus 111, Sonata
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  number 32. It contains the Bagatell's Op. 33.
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  He has the 32 variations in C minor, the Fantasia
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  in G minor, the Rage Over a Lost Penny, and various
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  small pieces. But I'm going to look through the
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  booklet right now, because I don't really have
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  a script the way I usually do, and some of the
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  other things in this collection. include ballet
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  music without opus number one in Beethoven's
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  transcription. Let's see what else we have here.
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  I'm just looking at the booklet. There are some
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  transcriptions by Louis Winkler, who lived from
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  1820 until 1886. Not complete pieces, but...
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  movements from certain pieces, like the serenade
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  in D major, opus 25, the adagio from the violin
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  sonata, opus 30, number 2. You have the complete
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  Beethoven Kreutzer Sonata in a solo piano arrangement
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  by Carl Czerny in the third movement, but with
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  the first two movements being transcribed by
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  somebody named Anonymous. Anonymous was a really
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  good transcriber. There is the second movement,
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  the Adagio, from the Op. 18 No. 6 String Quartet
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  in a transcription by Saint -Saëns. And there's
• 3:12
  Liszt's transcription of the minuet and trio
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  from the septet. Liszt did transcribe the entire
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  septet, but we just have that... movement here.
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  Oh yeah, more Louis Winkler, the third movement
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  Rondo from the Cello Sonata Op. 5 No. 2. What
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  else? Also, Wagner's transcription of the Beethoven
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  Ninth Symphony, Cazares plays the Adagio. The
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  whole symphony in Wagner's transcription actually
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  has been recorded in the past. It's not the most
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  effective transcription, to be totally honest.
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  I think the Adagio is the best movement. That's
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  why Katsaris includes it. But this is a really
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  ingenuous and very imaginatively programmed box
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  set that intersperses original. Beethoven piano
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  compositions with all of these transcriptions.
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  And as you would expect when it comes to transcription
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  repertoire, Cyprian Katsaris just tosses off
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  these pieces with maximum flair and minimum technical
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  effort in absolutely stunning performances. I
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  also find his approach to the so -called non
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  -hyphenated Beethoven originals very stimulating
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  as well, and often the interpretations are very
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  original. For instance, he plays the theme of
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  the C minor variations in a very sober way, but
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  then once the variations kick in, he just flies
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  out of the starting gate, and he eventually...
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  gets back to normalcy after a handful of the
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  variations transpire. But there's a lot of character
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  and contrast in this performance, which I think
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  is really, really interesting, and I love it.
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  And also, I was listening to the Opus 14 No.
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  2 Sonata, and I was listening to the Andantes.
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  detached chords and the very subtle and very
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  precise dynamic gradations that the pianist brings
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  to them. And also in the Moonlight Sonata, there
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  are all kinds of fresh voicings and points of
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  emphasis that never, however, never pull focus
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  from Beethoven's intentions. Also, In the Bagatelle's
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  Op. 33, I was listening again to the second Bagatelle,
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  and Beethoven's sforzando markings get this extra
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  little kick, which I think is very effective.
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  I mean, maybe it's exaggerated to some ears,
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  but I think it really makes the point that Beethoven
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  wants with a little added oomph, you know. And
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  the final piece in Opus 33, which is a presto,
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  is really a masterclass in how to generate tension
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  and excitement at the softest dynamic levels,
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  almost through understatement. That was something
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  that Miles Davis could do in his 1960s quintet,
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  where they could play absolutely fast tempos.
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  and sound so relaxed because they could really
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  generate tension at the softest dynamic levels.
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  And I think it's very appropriate to link Miles
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  Davis and Beethoven in the same sentence because
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  both were incredibly radical and innovative musicians.
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  Now, in the context of all of this originality
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  and interpretation, I... probably would have
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  expected much more drama and explosiveness in
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  Opus 111. And this is kind of a relatively contained
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  and respectful... rendition. And I would have
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  wanted also the finale of Opus 78. I would have
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  imagined that Katsaris would have given us a
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  harder hitting kind of interpretation. I mean,
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  his playing is good, but it's relatively sedate
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  in the context of everything else. But it doesn't
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  really matter. Oh, and by the way, the Opus 77
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  Fantasia, you know, which is really kind of a
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  written -out improvisation, Katsaris really goes
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  to town, and he really lets the very improvisatory
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  bravura passages just rip. So I would encourage
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  all serious piano mavens to check out Beethoven,
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  A Chronological Odyssey with Cyprian Katsaris.
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  It's on the Piano 21 label, and he plays a Beckstein
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  piano, by the way. It has a really wonderful
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  and very varied kind of timbre from one register
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  to the next. It's a terrific collection, and
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  I'm very happy to have this in my collection,
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  and I think you will too. This is Jed Disler,
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  and you've been listening to The Piano Maven,
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  your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  So let's raise a glass to Beethoven. Happy 255th
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  birthday, Ludwig.