Anatole Kitain: Godowsky Die Fledermaus

Born in 1903, taught by Tarnowsky and Blumenfeld, Kitain was Horowitz's condisciple.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical

[pianopera]

Great playing!

From what year is this recording?

[snaaptaker]

Marvelous! I've never heard of him, but this is right up there with Moiseiwitsch's recording. Bravo!

[palmerplantagenet]

When I asked Tarnowsky which of his pupils was best, he didn't mention Uninsky, Kitain or anyone else, just straight forwardly said Horowitz. H didn't care for Godowsky's contrapuntal excess. G's music is often more difficult to play than it sounds. H was pragmatically interested in effect above effort. Kitain is excellent: a decided persona, mood projecting, incised finger work, evocative murmuring in dolcissimo sections, doesn't make listeners struggle along (most pianists do in this piece). 

[toni8675]

@palmerplantagenet here's a fun fact... Kitain and Horowitz were classmates in Kiev :)

[gtimny]

Holy Cow! I'd seen Kitain's name before but never heard him. Thanks for this revelation. Spectacular playing, and with the marvelous sense that he's not working too hard to do it - a distraction in many other performances of this repertoire. If you're going to play this stuff, you have to be able to just "shake it out of your sleeves" as I forget who said! IMO, Kitaien's abridgement improves this piece, just as Lhevinne's does for Danube. Both originals are too long winded. Fantastic.

[palmerplantagenet]

Comparing Kitain to Horowitz is like comparing Toscha Seidel to Jascha Heifetz.

[rugby52732]

Abridged version ?

[rugby52732]

Seems it's an abridged version ?

[rugby52732]

Pity this is abriged.

[Noshirm]

@pianopera Sir E....been thinking. Horowitz was an incredible pianist, and had an amazing technique...yet he never tackled the labyrinthine complexity of a Godowsky transcription. He claimed not to care for these works...but is it that all there was to it? Your thoughts? And after a year, Kitain's playing thrills me yet further; it's a crying shame this post has had so view listeners and commentators. >:-(

[Noshirm]

This seems plausible. Yes, he left, as did Vengerova, the Lhevinnes, Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, and so on. But he never seemed to get the publicity Horowitz did. It's really unfortunate. Some artists, no matter how gifted they are, and no matter what their musical pedigree, just get left in the wings. The pianists Etelka Freund, Iren Marik, and so on, should also have been far better known of, far more widely recorded and listened to. Does the press have some responsibility in this regard, maybe?!