MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major, K. 482; CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 – Mindru Katz, piano/BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra/Yuval Zaliouk
Cembal d’amour CD 142, 66:16 [Distrib. by Qualiton] ****:
The genesis of this rare restoration by pianist-producer Mordecai Shehori proves as virtually compelling as the two marvelous performances given by Romanian pianist Mindru Katz (1925-1978) of music by Mozart and Chopin. Katz’s widow, Zoara Katz, provided the analog tapes of the recordings, stored some 35 years in a hot, humid, sea-side locale near Tel Aviv.
In his note to me, Shehori writes of how he had to rescue the binder and acetate in the damaged original so the music could become accessible:
When I initially [tried] to play it, [the tape] screeched and stopped every
10 seconds. I took the actual tape out of the casing and started drying it
in a food dehydrator for 5 hours at the time [at] 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
The temperature window is very narrow since too low temperature will not
do much good and too high will melt the tape. The idea [was] to dry it so it will
be less glue-like. Although there was some improvement, it was still not
playable because the hot air could not penetrate between the layers of the tape.
So I realized that each inch of the tape needs to be manually dried.
So I did it with an old hair dryer…many times over while slowly advancing
the tape…since it can damage the tape as well. I also used a special lubricant
on the recorder’s heads which is used in commercial movie film projectors
that makes the [tape’s] passing over the recorder heads easier and does not
damage the tape itself.
The results can now be enjoyed by posterity, which celebrates the two performances (the Mozart 31 December 1974 and the Chopin 21 May 1975) by Katz in much the same spirit as we hail any new discovery in his compatriot Dinu Lipatti’s archives. Thoroughly idiomatic in both musical styles, Katz adds an interesting footnote by playing Carl Reinecke’s cadenza in the Mozart first movement. Some fiery orchestral accompaniment from Israeli-born Yuval Zaliouk captures the militant pomp and natural grace of the E-flat Concerto, which likewise asks the performer for fluid, organic tracery in the virile runs and arioso passages. At several points in the last movement, Allegro, its lyrical impulses borrow affects and woodwind colors from Cosi fan tutte.
The Chopin Concerto complements Lipatti beautifully, whom we have in the E Minor Concerto with Ackermann. A nervous tension permeates the opening, orchestral tutti, the horns and winds in subtle, metric collision. Already, conductor Zaliouk hints at the kind of rubato Katz will employ freely in his expressive realization of this dark opal of a concerto that depends so much on the mazurek for its rhythmic essence. Pearly play and bravura combine elegantly in the episodic statements of the flowering theme, non-legato declamations pitted against florid, Bellini arias, all moving with a seamless ease whose transparency never belies its sober, intense poetry.
Despite whatever damage and decay occurred in the original tapes, the surviving colors remain firmly intact, with only an occasional note smeared or bleared from the ravages of time. Katz’s long studied line communicates a Chopin aristocratic and fully in command of the piano as a singing instrument. The Larghetto confirms Katz’s capacity for febrile, lyrical drama, both from the coloratura outset and the dark, middle section, each if which demonstrates Katz’s strong, flexible trill and his graded pedal effects. Katz moves through the barely accompanied recitativo passages like a keen knife, flourishing sparks with every new, accelerated impulse over tympani, ostinati, and tremolandi of softest hues. Light-handed virtuosity marks the last movement, with Katz’s clearly relishing the rhythmic diversity of the dances Chopin provides, mazurka and krakowiak in sprightly turns. The col legno strings add a “sec” counterpoint to Katz’s liquid filigree, a facile series of serenades in national colors. The audience, and we, can well be grateful for the privilege of hearing him. An arduous labor of love well worth the effort, Mr. Shehori.
–Gary Lemco
