Cyprien Katsaris was pupil of cziffra, meanwhile he was also pupil of french virtuoso pianist Monique de la Bruchollerie. French virtuoso pianist Monique de la Bruchollerie was pupil of german virtuoso pianist Emil von Sauer. German virtuoso pianist Emil von Sauer was pupil of Franz Liszt.
Katsaris has a series of chords invoking chimes or bells, at 6:20 - beautiful! Listen! Can't help notice that the instrument he plays is a super-well sounding grand, with the most beautiful "soprano" and upper register, and a full sounding "alto/baryton" - an instrument which can do superfast repetitions. Well tuned, adding to the beauty of the emotions Katsaris' chords and arpeggios invokes.
Themes ive heard in this improvisation, 2:15 (A flat major version ending phrase of the G major phrase from Hungarian Rhapsody No.3) 3:06 (St. Francis of Paola walking on the waves deux legendes no.2? [probably its just a transition and not an actual theme]) 6:43 (the marseillaise, aka the anthem of his country) there are some french folk song that I cannot verify though (even if they are not a folk song or even french) 15:35 (I believe im hearing the Swan Lake Scene No.20 but transposed down to B flat Minor
14:00 - END Sublime! especially at 15:28 - END it gradually reaches the pinnacle of human expression, this kind of chopin's emotional outburst which touches the "dark" boundaries of despair!
Incroyable ! Faut-il avoir l'oreille absolue pour improviser ? Lorsque j'essaie je ne fais pas ce que j'imagine... Technique pianistique digne de liszt et une improvisation si belle qu'elle semble avoir été apprise !!!
Katsaris is the GOD of the piano on the level of Liszt and Rachmaninov ! Forget about clowns like Lang Lang who call themselves "The greatest pianist of the world".....
Amazing technique but missing form and depth, seems to be just showoff. I love the Beethoven / Liszt piano recordings, but Beethoven also abstained from pianists who cannot compose. In his opinion, "these folks just run memorized tirades up and down the keyboard that lack any meaning".
