Katsaris is a tremendous romantic fearless virtuoso. He actually recorded all Beethoven symphonies in the Liszt arrangement, as well as in his younger days a Liszt record with Ormandy in Philadelphia. He has since 2001 his own label "Piano 21" with the craziest repertoire. From baroque to Boulez. He also reissued the above: Also his own version for solo piano of Beethoven's PC no 5
Interesting! Thanks for posting all that; I hadn't heard of his Piano 21 label. Looking at the website, however, am I right that its issues are available only by streaming? In an admittedly not too thorough search, I couldn't find any links for purchasing physical media.
Thanks--I guess I've gotten so used to little labels selling direct that it never occurred to me to look elsewhere. I actually went ahead and bought this set: Glad to see he's a Bechstein artist--that's the storied brand of piano in my home music room. (Would that I could play it--an adjunct of my wife's piano studio.)
I enjoyed this performance on Shafran's Amati Cello. These discs have better sound than much of the Historical Russian Archives Daniel Shafran Edition in my opinion. Daniel Shafran Beethoven The 5 Sonatas for Cello and Piano. with Anton Ginzburg Doremi, 2003 2 CDs Remastering and restoration : Jacob Harnoy
Presumably, these are the same ex-Melodiya recordings as in Odyssey 34645, a 2-LP set that I bought when I was in college and my first exposure to this music. I remember the excitement of discovering Beethoven wrote music for cello! What a long, long winding road I've followed since.... Anyhow, I remain fond of the recordings. Shafran's accounts hold up very well, I think, against later recordings that have come my way. And "discovery" or "old friend," the works are jewels, every one. I don't know why Beethoven felt moved to write solo sonatas for cello, but we are all the richer that he did. How's the mastering/processing? DoReMi can be spotty in that regard, I find. I'm not sure what "restoration" these recordings would have needed; as I'm remembering things, they sound quite fine in the Odyssey release. Mind you, in part the label is sonically spotty because it fearlessly will release material of original sonic quality that even I, a practiced member in good standing of the Compromised Sound Club, find challenging to audition.
I don't have access to the original Melodiya or Odyssey pressings. So I am at a loss to know what differences there might be. I didn't hear anything too bad, but I might be a little too forgiving for the loss of disc noise. I would like to have heard the remastered Analogphonic LP set, but I can't find a copy and it is probably out of my price range anyway. • Audiophile 180g 3LP-set from Analogphonic • First time released as 3LP Box Set edition • Mastered from original analogue master tapes of Firma Melodiya • Audiophile analogue mastering by Daniel Krieger • Cut to lacquers at Schallplaten Schneid Technik GmbH in Germany
Aulos Music in Korea did a number of remasterings in DSD of Shafran's recordings, but I am unable to locate any of them. In a review of the Aulos cds, here is one reviewer's (Jonathan Woolf) take on the Beethoven cello sonatas. "The 1971 set of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas, once more with Ginsburg, is housed in a striking red double box set. Performances are perhaps less personalised than some in this series but no less compelling. Right from the veiled introduction to the Adagio sostenuto of Op.5 No.1 we are in the grip of a master cellist. His partnership with Ginsburg is a real partnership and not a flag of convenience, such as was, for example, the ill-matched Piatigorsky-Solomon traversal of the five sonatas. Tempi are flexible, adagios expressive but not glutinous and not over-vibrated even though he deploys a welter of tone colours. In the great A major we can hear rhythmic pull at its best and noble dignity to the phrasing. Articulation of the Scherzo is precise without being at all mannered, the Adagio introduction of the finale being concentrated yet spacious. He brings out the rather Bachian impress of the Andante of the C major even if his playing of the sonata as a whole may alienate some. It’s engagingly personalised playing with moments of arresting poetry and sudden swooping diminuendi, but he’s not always at his best in the higher positions. In the Allegro Vivace section the fugal pages are deft and well aerated and both he and Ginsburg catch the strangeness of this movement, neither submerging it nor codifying it."
Geoffrey Simon Philharmonia Orchestra Respighi: Queen of Sheba; Metamorphoseon Chandos, 1985 At the time these were the world premiere recordings.
Does that happen to include a series of works by Mikhail Glinka--Incidental Music to Prince Kholmski, Kamarinskaya, "Summer Night in Madrid," etc.? If so, there's a good chance it has some of the first music I ever bought on CD, albeit as a single disc on Le Chant du Monde LDC 278-819.
The Orchestral Pictures disc does not have any works by Glinka. I have the works you mentioned on these two discs. Your post reminded me it had been a while since I listened to those works.
For me, the best performance on this disc is the Chamber Symphony Op.110a (transcribed by Rudolf Barshai from String Quartet No. 8). It is conducted by Yuli Turovsky who was part of the Borodin Trio. Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony Op. 110a Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings. I Musici de Montreal Yuli Turovsky, conducting the Chamber Symphony Maxim Shostakovich, conducting the Concerto Chandos, 1985