Brahms: Works for Solo Piano

by Decca

$27.93

$47.98

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Sales Rank:	41209 (lower is better)
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Release Date:	1997-11-11
Label:	Decca
UPC:	028945524726
Binding:	Audio CD
Published By:	Decca
ASIN:	B0000042GM
Category:	Music

Tracks on Brahms: Works for Solo Piano by Decca

1. Variations On A Theme By Paganini, Op.35: Book 1 - Heft 1
2. Variations On A Theme By Paganini, Op.35: Book 2 - Heft 2
3. Variations And Fugue On A Theme By G.F. Handel, Op.24: B Flat Major
4. 4 Ballades, Op.10: Andante
5. 4 Ballades, Op.10: Andante
6. 4 Ballades, Op.10: Intermezzo. Allegro
7. 4 Ballades, Op.10: Andante con moto
8. Works For Solo Piano: Ziemlich langsam
9. Works For Solo Piano: Poco larghetto
10. Works For Solo Piano: Allegro
11. Works For Solo Piano: Walzer Nr. 1 - 8
12. Works For Solo Piano: Walzer Nr. 9 - 16
13. Works For Solo Piano: Scherzo es-moll
14. Works For Piano Solo: Allegro
15. Works For Piano Solo: Andante
16. Works For Piano Solo: Scherzo. Allegro molto e con fuoco
17. Works For Piano Solo: Finale. Allegro con fuoco
18. Works For Piano Solo: Allegro non troppo ma energico
19. Works For Piano Solo: Andante con espressione
20. Works For Piano Solo: Scherzo. Allegro
21. Works For Piano Solo: Finale. Introduzione (sostenuto) - Allegro non troppo e rubato
22. Works For Piano Solo: Agitato
23. Works For Piano Solo: Molto passionato, ma non troppo allegro
24. Works For Piano Solo: Allegro maestoso
25. Works For Piano Solo: Andante espressivo - Andante molto
26. Works For Piano Solo: Scherzo. Allegro energico
27. Works For Piano Solo: Intermezzo. Andante molto
28. Works For Piano Solo: Finale. Allegro moderato ma rubato
29. Works For Piano Solo: Presto energico
30. Works For Piano Solo: Andante
31. Works For Piano Solo: Allegro passionato
32. Works For Piano Solo: Adagio
33. Works For Piano Solo: Andante con grazia ed intimissimo sentimento
34. Works For Piano Solo: Andante teneramente
35. Works For Piano Solo: Allegro agitato
36. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op.76 - I Capriccio in F sharp minor
37. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - II Capriccio in B minor
38. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - III Intermezzo in A flat major
39. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - IV Intermezzo in B flat major
40. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - V Capriccio in C sharp minor
41. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - VI Intermezzo in A major
42. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - VII Intermezzo in A minor
43. Works For Solo Piano: 8 Pieces, Op. 76 - VIII Capriccio in C major
44. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - I Intermezzo in A minor
45. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - II Intermezzo in A major
46. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - III Ballade in G minor
47. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - IV Intermezzo in F minor
48. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - V Romanze in F major
49. Works For Solo Piano: 6 Pieces, Op. 118 - VI Intermezzo in E flat minor
50. Works For Solo Piano: 4 Pieces, Op. 119 - I Intermezzo in B minorn B
51. Works For Solo Piano: 4 Pieces, Op. 119 - II Intermezzo in E minor
52. Works For Solo Piano: 4 Pieces, Op. 119 - III Intermezzo in C major
53. Works For Solo Piano: 4 Pieces, Op. 119 - IV Rhapsody in E flat major
54. Works For Solo Piano: Andante moderato
55. Works For Solo Piano: Andante non troppo e con molto espressione
56. Works For Solo Piano: Andante con moto
57. Works For Solo Piano: g-moll
58. Works For Solo Piano: d-moll
59. Works For Solo Piano: F-dur
60. Works For Solo Piano: fis-moll
61. Works For Solo Piano: fis-moll
62. Works For Solo Piano: Des-dur
63. Works For Solo Piano: F-dur
64. Works For Solo Piano: a-moll
65. Works For Solo Piano: e-moll
66. Works For Solo Piano: E-dur
67. Works For Solo Piano: d-moll
68. Works For Solo Piano: d-moll
69. Works For Solo Piano: D-dur
70. Works For Solo Piano: d-moll
71. Works For Solo Piano: B-dur
72. Works For Solo Piano: f-moll
73. Works For Solo Piano: fis-moll
74. Works For Solo Piano: D-dur
75. Works For Solo Piano: h-moll
76. Works For Solo Piano: e-moll
77. Works For Solo Piano: e-moll

Customer Reviews

Superb Brahms Set - Reviewed on 2008-11-23

An excellent set that I've gotten much listening pleasure from, and will certainly continue to do so. Definitely 5 stars!!

Dazzling Brahms from an underrated artist - Reviewed on 2008-04-13

2 customers found this review helpful.

While there may be recordings of individual works in this set that equal these by Katchen (by the likes of Richter, Michelangeli, Gilels and Arrau), you would be hard pressed to find any that clearly surpass them. In other words, Katchen plays Brahms like Rubinstein played Chopin - that is, better than everyone else. That, of course, doesn't mean these should be the only versions of these works you need, but it is the perfect place to start. Katchen does take the sonatas at a slightly faster tempo than Richter, but each line is still clearly articulated. Most box sets have their peaks and valleys, but this one is fairly even throughout. Also highly recommendable for Brahms fans are Katchen's violin sonatas with Josef Suk and piano trios with Suk and Janos Starker.

the finest set of Brahms solo piano music - Reviewed on 2007-10-15

4 customers found this review helpful, 1 did not.

A British musician once said to me "American musicians don't understand European music." I was so stunned that I could only think to reply, "But what about Murray Perahia?" To which she responded, "Murray Perahia? He's British." I then explained that while Perahia may live in London, he was raised in New York City, where he attended the Mannes School of Music. She seemed sceptical. Of course, after we parted I subsequently thought of scores of American musicians who have performed "European" music with great understanding, but unfortunately, I never saw her again.

All this to say that I have always wished I mentioned Julius Katchen that day. Although I don't suppose that she would have known about the remarkable recordings Katchen made with the great Czech violinist, Josef Suk, of the Brahms violin sonatas, or the equally fine recordings he made of the Brahms piano trios, with Suk and cellist Janos Starker. Nor would she have known about this set of the complete Brahms solo piano music, which is overall the best set that I have ever heard. Listening again to Katchen's utterly beautiful playing of the late Brahms Intermezzi Op.117, I am reminded of just how outrageous her comment really was. Katchen was a pianist of real intellect, who possessed a deep emotional understanding of this very "European" music, and he was from Long Branch, New Jersey. In fact, I can think of only a handful of pianists that I would put in his same class for the playing of Brahm's solo piano music: they would include Radu Lupu, Dmitri Bashkirov, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli--whose "Four Ballades" surpass everyone, even Gilels--and historically speaking, Walter Gieseking and Wilhelm Backhaus. (Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, and Annie Fischer were all exceptional in Brahms solo piano works, but they didn't record much of it.) I also have a very special fondness for a double CD set of late Brahms piano music played by the Russian pianist Dmitri Aleexev on the EMI label. (Of the more recent crop of pianists, I have enjoyed Nicholas Angelich's recordings on the Virgin label, Ivo Janssen, Helene Grimaud, and I am very much hoping that Nelson Freire will get around to recording some of the solo works, after his brilliant recent recording of the piano concertos.) But as complete sets go, this Katchen set is definitely the one to get, and is essential for any lover of the music of Brahms.

The sound is mostly analoque, and is generally very good. My only complaint is that it is a little recessed--although be warned that I have an earlier Decca Ovation release, and not this later release--so, mine may be a little different. There were times when I felt forced to turn the volume up in an effort to hear the quieter, more ruminative passages, which Katchen plays so tenderly--then, when he launched into the more thunderous passages it was a little jarring, and I had to jump up to turn the volume back down. Part of this is simply due to the wide range of emotions inherent in these compositions, and will be a problem no matter which recording one is listening to. But it is also partly due to the difficulty of transfering a very decent analogue piano recording from the LP days into a digital CD format. I am fortunate enough to have a Decca LP boxed set of these recordings from the early 1980s, and I don't remember ever having this sound problem. That set also included the violin sonatas with Suk, which likewise sounded more natural and life-like than on the various CD incarnations that I have purchased over the years.

A wonderful offering. - Reviewed on 2007-08-03

8 customers found this review helpful.

There may be the individual recording made by others - Gilels, Rubinstein, Arrau - of a particular piece which might be preferred but as a collection of the Brahms piano works, this set has to take the prize.

The quality of original recording is high and the digital transfer seemingly well done. One has to listen very attentively to detect which of the four Ballades were recorded monaurally; a strange anachronism in the 'sixties. Also, the piano is an unusually fine-sounding instrument and I wonder if it might not be the Bösendorfer which resided in Decca's Hampstead studios around the time these recordings were made.

As another reviewer has suggested, the accompanying notes in french and german do provide interestingly different perspectives. But what I find inexcusable is that neither of these, nor the text in english, offers any biographical or other information on the pianist. The title is "Brahms, Works for Solo Piano. Julius Katchen". That's it - Katchen dismissed! Despite there being two blank pages in the accompanying booklet and two more of irrelevant other releases by London, that is the only mention made anywhere of the artist. I find this not only irritating but offensive.

Julius Katchen was an American pianist who moved to post-War Paris at the age of twenty. He was the consummate musician with a broad performing repertoire; a very highly regarded soloist in his time - a time which included Rubinstein, Backhaus, Gilels, Horowitz, Moiseiwitsch and Solomon - and a very empathetic accompanist but whose achievements like those of Witold Malcuzynski are not so well remembered today. This set serves to redress the balance a little and introduce Katchen to a new generation who surely will appreciate what in my view is the best available recording of the fiendishly difficult Paganini variations. His recording of the Brahms Opus 24 Handel variations (which are up there with Bach's Goldbergs for sheer breadth of musical invention) also is one of the best.

I recommend this set very highly.

As an unconnected aside, some fifty years ago and quite by chance, I found myself sitting next to Katchen on an aircraft. I remember he had unusually expressive hands; a useful attribute as the noise level of the DC3 cabin militated against easy conversation! At the time, I was wrestling with the G minor Rhapsody and he was very generous with his advice (and a free ticket to a recital the following evening!). A charming man who died prematurely in 1969.

Buy this set - I can't imagine why you would regret it.

I disagree with the consensus here - Reviewed on 2007-07-11

10 customers found this review helpful, 3 did not.

I was disappointed by this set and would not recommend it. It's great that all of Brahms' piano works are included here and the boxed set includes some difficult to find works (like those Op. 21 variation sets) as well as the better known and wonderful later piano pieces and the Op. 39 Waltzes.

The problem is that Katchen's performances are flawed and often unpleasant. The worst problem is that he bangs the keys a lot. Fortissimo passages are ideally not supposed to be noisy; they are intended to be loud and forceful without being unpleasant. It's a key distinction that Katchen fails to realize. I also think that Katchen's technique is a bit patchy. He blurs the passagework and there is a lack of both accuracy and delicacy in the fast passages. To take an example, the Op. 76 set is marred by both of these problems: a lack of accuracy and a tendency to bang on the keyboard. I also found many of the passages that didn't suffer from these problems to be interpretationally uninteresting (the slow parts of the Paganini Variations, Bk II are undistinguished, to take an example). Big thumbs down.

I did some direct comparison of sets to the Katchen performances and in every case Katchen was far inferior.

Take the Op. 39 Waltzes: Leon Fleisher's old recording is wonderful and much more sensitive and interesting than Katchen.

I also listened to Radu Lupu's recording of the Opp. 117-119 pieces (THAT is a wonderful recording - if you are looking for a superb recording of Brahms piano music, get that one and save yourself the aggravation of the Katchen set) and it's simply no contest.

I also sampled the terrific Op. 79 Rhapsodies and the Paganini Variations as played by a favorite pianist of mine, the lesser-known French pianist Nicholas Angelich, and Katchen's sloppy and undirected interpretations pales before the versions by a "non-superstar" pianist.

So while I admit I haven't listened to every portion of the Katchen set, I found every reason to avoid it when compared to some alternatives available.

Book Subjects

• Ballade for Keyboard
• Box Sets (Audio Only)
• Chamber Music & Recitals
• Classical
• Classical Composers
• Classical Music
• Fantasy/Fantasia for Keyboard
• Intermezzo for Keyboard
• Keyboard
• Keyboard Work Entitled "Piece" or "Stück"
• Music for Four Hands at One Keyboard
• Rhapsody for Keyboard
• Romantic Sonata/Sonatina for Keyboard
• Romantic Variations for Keyboard
• Scherzo for Keyboard
• Variations for Keyboard