Uploaded August 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Peter Katin (1930-2015), piano
Rec. live, 1977
00:00 1. Allegro maestoso
09:06 2. Scherzo
11:34 3. Largo
21:47 4. Finale: Presto non tanto
From www.gramophone.co.uk:
A much-admired musician, Katin’s career was characterised by long periods of neglect, followed by periods of great productivity. Born in London to an immigrant Orthodox Jewish father from Lithuania and an English mother, Katin showed early musical promise and attended the Royal Academy of Music from the age of 12; he was also head chorister at Westminster Abbey. He made his Wigmore Hall debut aged 18 and was soon a sought-after soloist and chamber music-partner. He made his debut at the Proms in 1953, a personal triumph. As Katin said in an interview with Gramophone in October 1987, I remember early in my career playing Rachmaninov's Third Concerto at the Proms, and it brought the house down; since then I've hardly ever been asked to play anything else. Bang went Beethoven, Mozart, chamber music … I put up with this for a long time, and then I took a stand and said I wasn't going to play these things again. That gave me time to study other composers properly and it's paid off.’
During the late 1950s Katin made a number of recordings for Decca and Westminster including concertante works by Mendelssohn, a couple of Liszt recitals, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and Concert Fantasia, Rachmaninov’s First and Second Piano Concertos and Litolff’s Concerto Symphonique (all now available from Pristine Classical in superb remasterings). He continued to explore the romantic piano repertoire and was a frequent fixture at the Proms (he had made 25 appearances by the 1970s). He also appeared as the musical partner of the violinist Alfredo Campoli (in the 1950s) and the soprano Victoria de los Angeles (in the 1970s).
Katin taught at the University of Western Ontario in Canada for a while before returning to the UK in 1984. The major engagements had dried up but Katin persevered, performing at music clubs and teaching, as well as making a number of self-funded recordings. In 1987 he embarked on a series of CDs for Olympia.
Katin retired from performance in 2004.
Peter Katin (1930-2015), piano
Rec. live, 1977
00:00 1. Allegro maestoso
09:06 2. Scherzo
11:34 3. Largo
21:47 4. Finale: Presto non tanto
From www.gramophone.co.uk:
A much-admired musician, Katin’s career was characterised by long periods of neglect, followed by periods of great productivity. Born in London to an immigrant Orthodox Jewish father from Lithuania and an English mother, Katin showed early musical promise and attended the Royal Academy of Music from the age of 12; he was also head chorister at Westminster Abbey. He made his Wigmore Hall debut aged 18 and was soon a sought-after soloist and chamber music-partner. He made his debut at the Proms in 1953, a personal triumph. As Katin said in an interview with Gramophone in October 1987, I remember early in my career playing Rachmaninov's Third Concerto at the Proms, and it brought the house down; since then I've hardly ever been asked to play anything else. Bang went Beethoven, Mozart, chamber music … I put up with this for a long time, and then I took a stand and said I wasn't going to play these things again. That gave me time to study other composers properly and it's paid off.’
During the late 1950s Katin made a number of recordings for Decca and Westminster including concertante works by Mendelssohn, a couple of Liszt recitals, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and Concert Fantasia, Rachmaninov’s First and Second Piano Concertos and Litolff’s Concerto Symphonique (all now available from Pristine Classical in superb remasterings). He continued to explore the romantic piano repertoire and was a frequent fixture at the Proms (he had made 25 appearances by the 1970s). He also appeared as the musical partner of the violinist Alfredo Campoli (in the 1950s) and the soprano Victoria de los Angeles (in the 1970s).
Katin taught at the University of Western Ontario in Canada for a while before returning to the UK in 1984. The major engagements had dried up but Katin persevered, performing at music clubs and teaching, as well as making a number of self-funded recordings. In 1987 he embarked on a series of CDs for Olympia.
Katin retired from performance in 2004.
