Alessandro MARCELLO (1684-1750)
Oboe Concerto in D minor (pub. 1717); Adagio, arr. Johann Sebastian Bach for keyboard [3:31]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1809-1847)
Preludes, Op.28 [43:30]
Dmitri KABALEVSKY (1904-1987)
Preludes, Op.38 (1943-44): Nos. 6 in B minor [1:12]; No.8 in F sharp minor [2:18]; No.14 in E flat minor [1:48]
Mindru Katz (piano)
rec. live, November 1974, Tel-Aviv (Marcello and Kabalevsky); March 1969 Jerusalem (Chopin)
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD167 [51:34]
Once again the subtle art of Mindru Katz is brought back from the grave
in performances given in Israel between 1969 and 1974. Consistently insightful
he proves to be – or once again reveals himself to be – a
Chopin exponent of the widest culture, stylistic taste, and expressive
refinement. He plays the Op.28 Preludes with a notable sense of authority
and narrative direction. The set begins potentially unpromisingly perhaps
with a lot of see-sawing rubati in the C major and it makes for an uneasy,
rather tart beginning. This feeling of unease and metrical displacement
elides into the A minor where once again it’s not easy to detect
the true spine of the individual Prelude. By the G major the freshness
of Katz’s voicings is beginning to win through, his left hand being
– and remaining – admirably clear throughout this taxing set.
The B minor is especially attractive and effortlessly shaped, with Katz’s
technical armoury perfectly sufficient to withstand any trials placed
on it. The F sharp minor is genuinely poetic whilst in the D flat minor,
taken quite slowly, and subject to rich dynamic variance, his lovely tone
is at something like its zenith. He speeds up for the storm vesting it
with power and drama. Possibly the radio recording slightly submerges
his left hand here. The playing by this point has reached magisterial
descriptive heights. The B flat minor generates tremendous excitement
and flair, the F minor a righteous vehemence. The set gets better and
better as it develops, rising and falling, driving ever onwards in a concentrated
arc. It achieves distinction through purely musical means, and leaves
behind an aura of compelling intensity and tonal lustre – though
never – that last quality – for its own sake.
It’s the Preludes for which piano collectors should seriously consider
this archival disc. The tapes come from Katz’s widow, Zoara and
have been lovingly restored. There is also the matter of three selected
Preludes from Kabalevsky’s Op.38 set, well chosen to display contrast
and brevity. Katz also has time to display his own sublimated bravura
and instinct for poetic, lyric phrasing. The disc actually begins with
a piece that cries out for such refinement, Bach’s arrangement for
keyboard of Marcello’s Adagio from his Oboe Concerto. This is the
piece that Earl Wild played so beautifully, indeed memorably. Katz approaches
it wholly differently. In his hands it’s not a valediction, but
a nobly chiselled poem, a study in quietly extrovert yet elevated spirit.
It would have served equally as well as an envoi, but it stands as the
portal to this distinguished disc, which will well reward the listener
searching out more of Katz’s precious legacy on disc.
Jonathan Woolf
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