{"product_id":"katchen-brahms-piano-sonata-no-3-rachmaninov-piano-concerto-no-2-194951-pakm035","title":"KATCHEN Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3; Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 (1949\/51) - PAKM035","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770D90\"\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770EC0\"\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770FF0\"\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D771840\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eBRAHMS \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003ePiano Sonata No. 3\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eRACHMANINOV \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003ePiano Concerto No. 2\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770D90\"\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770EC0\"\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D770FF0\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D772E90\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodysmallarial\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eRecorded in 1949 and 1951\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration: 64:28\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D775470\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eJulius Katchen, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003epiano\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D775470\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eThe New Symphony Orchestra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan data_liveedit_tagid=\"000000000D775470\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econductor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e Anatole Fistoulari\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PAKM035.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: x-large;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eGroundbreaking LP releases from the great virtuoso Katchen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp align=\"center\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: medium;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe first solo piano \u0026amp; piano concerto LPs - now in exceptional XR remasters\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eBoth of these recordings represent true milestones in\nthe development of the long playing record. The Brahms was originally\nreleased in the USA by Decca's American subsidiary, London, some seven\nmonths prior to Decca's launch of the LP format in the UK in June 1950,\nwhen this LP was amongst the first batch of issues. Although the long\nplayer had been around in the States for some two years, Katchen's LP\nrelease of the Brahms \u003cem\u003e3rd Piano Sonata\u003c\/em\u003e was in fact the first full LP of music for solo piano.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eA year later, the pianist notched up a second historic first - astonishingly, the Rachmaninov \u003cem\u003e2nd Concerto\u003c\/em\u003e\nrecording he made with Fistoulari just two months prior to its June\nrelease was the first piano concerto release on LP. Both this and the\nBrahms are worthy holders of these titles - Katchen is still today\nremembered perhaps more than anything for his playing of Brahms, and\nalthough the \u003cem\u003e3rd Sonata\u003c\/em\u003e was not his earliest recording of\nBrahms for Decca, it was the first to see commercial release:; in May\n1947 Katchen had recorded the \u003cem\u003eVariations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel\u003c\/em\u003e in a session which aslo saw the recording of his first actual Decca disc release (Liszt's \u003cem\u003eHungarian Rhapsody\u003c\/em\u003e\nwas issued on 78rpm in February 1948). This first Brahms recording has\nremained unissued, along with two other recordings from this session,\nand it was remade in a recording done in April 1949 and issued first on\n78rpm in September 1950 and eventually on vinyl in 1952.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eThis was clearly a confusing time for the record buyer. During the sessions that yielded the \u003cem\u003e3rd Sonata\u003c\/em\u003e, Katchen had also recorded Brahms' \u003cem\u003eIntermezzo in E flat Op.117\/1\u003c\/em\u003e, but this was only \u003cem\u003eever\u003c\/em\u003e issued on 78s - in a set which paired it with the \u003cem\u003eThird Sonata\u003c\/em\u003e\n(AX423-27) when issued on shellac nine months after the sonata's vinyl\nrelease! The same sessions resulted in three Chopin recordings which\nagain would have needed to be collected on both vinyl and shellac by the\n1950's Katchen completist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eBy April 1951 things seem a little more settled,\nformat-wise. The Rachmaninov was still issued on both 33rpm and 78rpm,\nbut this time the vinyl and shellac release dates were just a month\napart (possibly less - we only have the month to go on and not the\nprecise issue date), with UK vinyl getting the priority over both\nshellac and the US vinyl release.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eBoth of the sessions represented here were produced by\nthe legendary John Culshaw, with the equally revered Kenneth Wilkinson\nmanning the controls for the \u003cem\u003eConcerto\u003c\/em\u003e recording (we have no record of who engineered the \u003cem\u003eSonata\u003c\/em\u003e),\nand both live up to the standards one comes to expect from Decca at\nthis time. What is unusual about both, but was clearer to me when\nrestoring the \u003cem\u003eSonata\u003c\/em\u003e, is a rather unusual harmonic distortion\nthat was evident during louder sections at the frequency range above\nabout 8kHz. However, the trigger for this distortion is not the higher\nnotes - these are generally clean and clear when heard in isolation -\nbut rather the lower notes in the left hand. Booming bass notes seemed\nto trigger a high end distortion which subsequent research strongly\nsuggests was a product of the tape recorders in use at the time, rather\nthan the vinyl replay medium.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eConsequently much of the time spend remastering these\notherwise excellent recordings has revolved around taming this tendency\nwhere it occurs. Both recordings have emerged from the XR remastering\nprocess sounding truly rejuvenated, and although sharper listeners with\nhighly analytical hi-fi systems, listening at higher volumes, may still\nbe aware of some residual traces of this distortion in the \u003cem\u003eSonata\u003c\/em\u003e,\nfor the majority it will be merely a curiousity to be read about and\nnot heard. Certainly my own hi-fi speakers don't reproduce it noticeably\nat normal listening levels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eFrom a performance point of view it is clear why Katchen\nwas to be associated with Brahms so much - this early recording is\nreally excellent. Writing in \u003cem\u003eThe Gramophone \u003c\/em\u003ein July 1950, L.S. has the following to say:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eJulius Katchen gives an impressive performance\nwhich has real coherence (he is, of course, helped by L.P. continuity):\nhe seems equally successful with the massive highly-strung style of the\nopening (how alike in feeling this is to the 'D minor Concerto, written a\nyear later!) and the sentimental ardours of the slow movement (which is\nprefixed by three lines from a love poem by Sternau). In the Scherzo,\nwith its flying leaps, Katchen manages to keep the movement light and\nairy at the same time as giving it substance: in fact, the only\ncriticism I have to offer of this very considerable pianist is that he\nis inclined to overdo the left-hand-before-right-hand trick to express\ndeep feeling.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003eThe Rachmaninov's reviewer H.F., in August 1951, managed\nto get himself somewhat amusingly tangled up in the new-fangled vinyl\ntechnology:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eLong-playing records are almost as moody and\nunaccountable as composers. No amount of flattery, persuasion, and\ntactful handling will make this one play ball with me (perhaps out of an\ninnate psychological sense of revenge that I am not a whole-hearted\nadmirer of Rachmaninov as a composer ?). The tonal range is wide enough;\nbut when I turned things down so as to reach a tolerably pleasing\nall-over sound, there was no body left; as soon as I began to turn\nthings up, the effect was increasingly as if the music had been recorded\nin a biscuit tin...\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"body\"\u003e...before delivering a verdict which turns to the\nperformance itself (suffice to say his concerns about sonics are not\nevident on this new Pristine XR issue):\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis is the pianist's recording—he takes it by\nhis powers (which are high) and is allowed it by those who balanced\norchestra and solo instrument. Memory is a trickster, but I fancy\nRachmaninov himself played the Concerto with greater warmth, more\nlovingly, less athletically. In other ways Julius Katchen is a worthy\nfollower of that great performer. I feel that the performance as a whole\ndesign laid out before one suffers a little from the fact (as it seems\nto me) that the pauses are each slightly too long for gramophone\nreception. The piano tone is consistently far better than the orchestral\ntone, despite an occasional point of blasting. The pianist shows\nhimself at his best in the third movement ; but, indeed, he is\nexceptionally good all the way through.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAndrew Rose\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eBRAHMS \u003c\/b\u003eSonata for Piano No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cspan class=\"bodymidarial\"\u003e\u003cb class=\"body\"\u003eJulius Katchen, piano\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Recorded 11 October 1949, West Hampstead Studios, London, produced by John Culshaw\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodysmallarial\"\u003eIssued on LP in the USA Dec. 1949 as London LLP112 and in the UK in June 1950 as Decca LX4012\u003cbr\u003e Also issued in the UK as Decca 78s AX423-27 in March 1951\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eRACHMANINOV\u003c\/b\u003e Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodybigblue\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cspan class=\"bodymidarial\"\u003e\u003cb class=\"body\"\u003eJulius Katchen, piano\u003cbr\u003e The New Symphony Orchestra\u003cbr\u003e conductor Anatole Fistoulari\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Recorded 11-12 April, 1951, Kingsway Hall, London, produced by John Culshaw, engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bodysmallarial\"\u003eIssued on LP in the UK in June 1951 as Decca LXT2595 and in the USA in July 1951 as London LLP384\u003cbr\u003e Also issued in the UK as Decca 78s AX535-39 in July 1951\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTransfers and XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, March 2010\u003cbr\u003eCover artwork based on a photograph of Julius Katchen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTotal duration: 64:28 \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover Art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcover_art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/thumbs\/PAKM035.jpg578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/PAKM035.pdf578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f","brand":"Pristine 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