'Of the many recordings of the two Liszt concertos, the Katchen and the Brendel have always seemed to me much the best, and here they both are, turning up in stereo form at the same moment. Katchen's is the conventional interpretation at its best, brash and exciting but with plenty of poetry at the right moment.' Gramophone
Extract from the sleeve notes Cyrus Meher-Homji
Supercharged virtuoso that he [Katchen] was, he could, when playing with an orchestra, take them to his own dizzying heights. Such is the case of his 1957 recordings of the Liszt concertos with Ataulfo Argenta. With a pianist willing to give these once much-maligned pieces a complete makeover, this was no case of "sawdust and spangles" (Neville Cardus's description of the Second Concerto) or a "Triangle Concerto" (Eduard Hanslick's sneering dismissal of the First). Argenta's conducting is far from a mere accompaniment. However weighted in favour of the soloist the concertos might seem, the Spanish conductor was intent in making the orchestra have its own say.
Aided by Gordon Parry's vivid, upfront sound engineering, the orchestra is given thrilling prominence and the risk taking is doubled. To every orchestral challenge that Argenta hurls in Katchen's direction, the pianist responds with lightening reflexes. Critic Donald Manildi, writing in International Piano Quarterly, notes: 'The Katchen/Argenta collaboration offers playing that relishes the rhetorical
elements to an extraordinary degree. So much so, in fact, that the prominence of the brass in the recorded balance almost gives a new slant to the writing.'
Recording information:
Recording locations: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, May 1953 (Funérailles), June 1961 (Rhapsody); Kingsway Hall, London, December 1955 (Fantasia) and January 1957 (Concertos)
Producers: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, May 1953 (Funérailles), June 1961 (Rhapsody); Kingsway Hall, London, December 1955 (Fantasia) and January 1957 (Concertos)
Recording Engineers: Decca Studios, West Hampstead, May 1953 (Funérailles), June 1961 (Rhapsody); Kingsway Hall, London, December 1955 (Fantasia) and January 1957 (Concertos)