Mindru Katz, Brilliant Pianist From Rumania

Press, Volume C, Issue 29604, 29 August 1961, Page 9

Mindru Katz, Brilliant Pianist From Rumania

Mindru Katz, the young Rumanian pianist who will give recitals at the Civic Theatre on September 9 and 12, was hailed by the “Daily Mail” as “one of the keyboard masters of our time” when he appeared in London two yean ago. Born in Bucharest in 1925. Mindra Katz began playing the piano at the age of four and began his studies soon after. When he was seven, Georges Enesco recommended him to Florica Musicescu, who also taught Dinu Lipatti. During the war Katz was crafted into forced labour by the Nazis and at the end of the war, aged 18, he had to fight his way back to his old standard. In 1947 he made his professional debut in Bucharest. During the next decade he toured Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Rumania. He won contests at Berlin, Prague and Bucharest and was honoured by the Rumanian Republic in 1953 and 1954. Four years ago he first went to Britain to give a private concert at the Rumanian Legation. Several concert managers were in the audience and were so impressed by his playing that they offered him tours. He appeared in London in November, 1958, and received great critical acclaim, which was repeated again in May and November, 1959. “An artist of unusual scope

and breathtaking brilliance,” the “Evening News” called him, “His pianistic moonlight is as sensitive as his fireworks are dazzling,” said the “Sunday Times.” Two years ago Katz left Bucharest, where he had lived with his family, and went to Israel, where he has a seaside home. However, he has not spent more than a few months there so far, for last year he toured Rhodesia, South Africa and East Africa and early this year he toured Britain. Of his performance of Khatchaturian’s Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall in March “The Times’’ said: “Mr Mindru Katz gave a perfect demonstration of how to extract the last ounce of excitement and allure from this music without the slightest suspicion of vulgarity. Mr Katz remained the aristocrat at all times with his disciplined virtuosity, his colour range and beautiful quality of tone, and his sensitively-shaped phrasing.”