Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Fantasias, Op. 116Set I: 8.11

1 Capriccio in D minor 2.002 Intermezzo in A minor 3.173 Capriccio in G minor 2.46

Set II: 13.164 Intermezzo in E major 5.115 Intermezzo in E minor 2.186 Intermezzo in E major 3.117 Capriccio in D minor 2.23

Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 15.378 No. 1 in E flat major 4.539 No. 2 in B flat minor 4.55

10 No. 3 in C sharp minor 5.42

Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 14.2211 No. 1 in B minor 8.2512 No. 2 in G minor 5.54

Recorded at Salen Church Hall, Ski, Norway on 21st, 22nd and 24th May 1990Sound Engineer: Arne AkselbergPreviously issued on Olympia OCD263℗ 1990 Peter Katin © 2011 Divine Art Ltd. Issued under licence.Design: Stephen Sutton (divine art): Photo kindly supplied by Peter Katin. All rights reserved.

Peter Katin piano

Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Händel, Op. 24 26.4713 Aria 0.5214 Variation I 0.4915 Variation II 0.4316 Variation III 0.3917 Variation IV 0.5418 Variation V 1.0119 Variation VI 1.0120 Variation VII 0.3921 Variation VIII 0.3622 Variation IX 1.2223 Variation X 0.3924 Variation XI 0.5325 Variation XII 0.5626 Variation XIII 1.28

27 Variation XIV 0.3928 Variation XV 0.4629 Variation XVI 0.3430 Variation XVII 0.3031 Variation XVIII 0.3732 Variation XIX 0.5733 Variation XX 1.1334 Variation XXI 0.3735 Variation XXII 0.5336 Variation XXIII 0.3737 Variation XXIV 0.3638 Variation XXV 0.4439 Fuga 5.13

Total CD duration 78.48

diversions records – a division of divineart recordings groupddv24157

Fantasias, Op.116In 1891 Brahms wrote little. The only twoworks he completed were the A minorClarinet Trio, Op. 114, and the B minorClarinet Quintet, Op. 115, and even theseFantasias overlapped into the next year. In(act by 1890 he had aged significantly(although he was only fifty-seven) andwanted to live an increasingly quiet life – heeven refused, twice, a Cambridge doctorate– and his works for clarinet were partlyinspired by his meeting with a well-knownclarinettist by the name of Mühlfeld, aswere the two sonatas he wrote for theinstrument at about the same time as theFantasias.

The seven pieces here display a wide varietyof moods. The Capriccios have a sort ofwhirlwind character about them: the firstrarely relaxes, but the G minor has a broadand thickly-written central section whichseems to rise triumphantly from the dramaof the first pages, while the last contains asweeping theme covering a wide registerand is somewhat reminiscent of a typicalBrahmsian string melody. This piececoncludes with a terse anduncompromising coda; between theseCapriccios the four Intermezzi are inward-looking, intimate works. The A minorconsists mostly of short phrases likeincomplete thoughts, its middle sectionbeing of a rather restless nature. The firstof the two in E major was originally called

Nocturne, and it is an expansive piece ofgreat beauty, having an improvisatoryfeeling that is undoubtedly nocturnal. Theother in the same key is chordal and moresolemn in character, with a briefly lyricalcentral part, and between the two, that in Eminor, perhaps the least known of theseven Fantasias, is an elusive fragment withfascinating harmonic progressions thatsurely deserve closer acquaintance.

Three Intermezzi, Op.117The rest of Brahms’s piano works werewritten in 1891 and 1892, all being sets ofshort pieces comprising Opp. 116-119,except for the book of 51 Exercises whichwere probably written over a greater periodof time but were finished in 1893. Thesethree pieces amount to some of Brahms’smost beautiful piano writing. All three arebrooding and intimate but each shows anintrospection in different aspects. The firstis a lullaby that has a quiet and unruffled liltwhich perfectly reflects the Scottishfolksong that inspired it. The second ismore rhapsodic, arabesque-like figurationsalternating with a sombre tune in therelative major key, while the third has anintensely brooding character, accentuatedperhaps by its writing being almost entirelyin the lower half of the keyboard; a moreoptimistic feeling comes with the middlesection, a gently rocking motif in A major.The return to the first idea is masterfully

done, with hesitant phrases that reinvokethe original mood.

Two Rhapsodies, Op.791879 was another year that saw very littlefrom Brahms. The great violin concertohad been written the year before, and hewas working on the G major Violin andPiano Sonata and the B flat Piano Concerto –the sonata was finished the following yearand the concerto not until 1881.

These two Rhapsodies are fairlystraightforward works, having rather more“organising” in the writing than might bethought from the title, and in fact they arefirmly connected with sonata form. Bothare somewhat stormy in character, the Gminor being by far the better known of thetwo. This is a tempestuous work, plungingright into a passionate opening theme andundergoing several changes of expressionin its first two pages. The middle sectionbecomes calmer, but the restlessness isnever far away, whereas the equivalent partof the B minor Rhapsody is a simple andcalm theme, virtually isolated from theouter pages, although here it is quoted,darkly, in the left hand, before thestorminess is spent in the major key(Brahms originally intended to call it aCapriccio). The G minor is rather differentin that it stays in the minor and ends withtwo fiercely decisive chords.

Variations and Fugue on a Theme byHändel, Op.24Brahms wrote this monumental work in1861, a year in which he was working on(or had completed) two piano quartets, thePiano Quintet (this was not finished until1864) and the Variations on a Theme bySchumann, for two pianos. He wasfascinated by the variation form and wroteseveral sets – not only that, but heincorporated the form in some of his otherworks, notably in the first two of his pianosonatas, and I feel that perhaps the mosthighly developed example is to be heard inthe superb finale of the fourth symphony,although this is basically in passacaglia form.

The Aria that forms the basis of this workcame from Handel’s second book of Suitesde pièces pour le clavecin. He dedicated it to “adear lady friend” who was of course ClaraSchumann, who gave its first performance.From the simplicity of the Aria Brahmsproduced twenty-five variations ofincredibly rich variety, all the moreremarkable when one considers that onlyone variation (21) departs from the basickey of B flat, and then only into G minor,its relative minor key. Some are linkedtogether without a pause, for instancenumbers 1 to 5, 6 to 8, etc. This creates atremendous buildup of tension andexcitement in the final four variations, thelast of which resembles a sort of fanfarewhich most effectively fills the two roles of

bringing the variations to a triumphantconclusion and also setting the scene forthe massive fugue, which builds up steadilyto an overwhelming final page.

Notes © Peter Katin 1990.

Peter Katin

... This was an evening of piano playing whichgripped the attention and the imagination as if bymagnetism. He found an intensity and an authorityto give a recital which could hardly have been moreabsorbing. (Daily Telegraph, 16 May 1989).

Born in London, Peter Katin’s musicaltalent was evident at the age of four, and hewas admitted to the senior department ofthe Royal Academy of Music when he wastwelve, four years before the official age ofentry. The success of his Wigmore Halldébut in 1948 started him on a career thathas taken him throughout the world (hewas the first British artist to give a post-warsolo tour of the then USSR), and in thoseearlier years he was greatly influenced byhis meetings with Clifford Curzon, ClaudioArrau and Myra Hess, who gave him muchadvice for which he has always been deeplygrateful.

His early successes seemed centred roundthe classical composers; he was greatly indemand for Mozart concerto performancesin particular and he also developed a rare

talent for chamber music. However, aperformance of Rachmaninov’s D minorConcerto in 1953 changed his image almostovernight, and hailed as a virtuoso of thefirst order he was constantly in demand forthe most taxing of romantic concertos untilthe late sixties, but by that time he decidedthat he needed to make a more in-depthstudy of the composers who had almostescaped him when he was immersed in thebig major works.

The first composer in this specialised studywas Chopin, and since that time he hasbecome regarded as one of the finestinterpreters of this composer's music. Hewas sufficiently encouraged to make similarstudies of Schubert, Schumann, Debussyand Liszt, and as a result has given anumber of one-composer recitals. Hisrepertoire now is very flexible and he ishappy about performing concertos byMozart, Beethoven and Brahms in oneweek, while keeping a very wide variety ofstyles in his recital programmes.

His constant encouragement of thepreserving of individuality in young artistshas been one factor in the conferral during1994 of an Honorary Doctorate by DeMontfort University, and as a teacher, hehas had highly successful years at the RoyalAcademy of Music, The University ofWestern Ontario, the Royal College ofMusic and Thames Valley University.

He has now almost forty recordings, more

than at any other time in his career, whichhave been received with criticalsuperlatives. These include the completeChopin Nocturnes and Impromptus, GriegLyric Pieces, Chopin Waltzes and Polonaisesand the Rachmaninov Preludes. A liveperformance of a recital including the LisztSonata was released by Athene to a ravereview in Classic CD. His interest in periodpianos has resulted in three suchrecordings, as well as an all-Chopinprogramme on his own Collard & Collard1836 instrument, and another on aBroadwood grand that was personally usedby Chopin on the occasion of his last visitto London.

Peter Katin gave an anniversary recital atWigmore Hall on 13 December 1998,exactly fifty years from the date of hisdébut, celebrated his seventieth birthday inNovember 2000, and his eightieth birthdayin 2010. His acclaimed recording of thecomplete Mozart sonatas were reissued byAltara Music in July 2008, and a new CD offour Haydn sonatas await release; a Chopinrecital (originally for Olympia) from SommRecordings has been very favourablyreceived. Peter Katin has supported severalcharities in the past, and he has given noless than fourteen recitals which have raisedvital funds for the Chernobyl Children'sProject (UK).

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