Recordings & Live Performances
“Pianist Catherine Kautsky and violinist Wen-Lei Gu, both professors of music at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, show a remarkable rapport, a deft sense of phrasing, and a keen awareness of subtle, almost imperceptible, changes in rhythm and mood, plus unfailingly beautiful tones that serve Brahms’ Three Sonatas for Violin and Piano to perfection. In the process, they characterize these sonatas to a degree that one seldom encounters in the recital hall or on recordings. All these qualities, and more, make their performances memorable even in very fast competition.”
Centaur Records
Wen-Lei Gu, violin
Catherine Kautsky, piano
Centaur Records
Catherine Kautsky, piano
“Catherine Kautsky is professor of music and chair of keyboard studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and boasts an enviable multi-faceted resume of performing and writing credits. Nearly everything about her recording of Debussy’s 24 Preludes is just right, from the relaxed animation and subtle gradations of tone throughout Danseuses de Delphes to Feux d’artifice’s combination of neo-Lisztian bravura and dry wit.”
“Her … account brings out all the power, majesty, and mystery of Debussy’s conception.”
Vox Classics
Catherine Kautsky, piano and narrator
“Storyteller and classical pianist Catherine Kautsky paints pictures for the mind in her performance of Francis Poulenc’s L’histoire de Babar, with the words of author Jean de Brunhoff; Jon Deak’s musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island”; and Erik Satie’s whimsical, very eccentric “Childish Small Talk,” “Picturesque Child’s Play,” and “Games and Diversions.” Uneven sound levels mar this unusual, often evocative album. A Parents’ Choice Approval.”
Wisconsin Public Television: Debussy’s Piano Portraits
Premiered on the PBS Wisconsin Channel on Thursday, November 1, 2018.