Katsaris Octaves

Not the most conventional means of emulating an organ sound- but after thinking about it, I think it's actually far closer to the coarseness of the gigantic pipes in a massive cathedral- compared to the polite style of grandeur that is usually associated with emulating the organ. I think this is perhaps the best illustration I've ever seen of how much faster you can go by playing octaves with the hand, rather than by moving the arm up and down. Seriously, am I going crazy or is he trilling in octaves at about 40 seconds in (as in, four trills at once!). If so, it seems I haven't even begun to understood what lies within the realms of possibility. Looking at the way his hands move I cannot see what possible cheat could create that sound. It sounds like one of those effects where each hand takes one note of a trill and alternates (creating the illusion of playing twice as fast as one hand can)- except his hands are clearly an octave part. Can anyone make any sense of what is going on there? After having heard a certain number of things from the likes of Cziffra and Volodos, I tend not to be surprised by a whole lot of feats. However, I'm absolutely bewildered as to how this could be physocally possible, or what cheat might enable him to fake the effect. Is this for real?

Pretty amazing it does sound lika a (huge) churchorgan. Katsaris knew cziffra well and I think he plays Cziffras version of Bumblbee which has similar octave-design.My guess is it's not isolated wristaction it's managed from forearm/arm or rather initiated a bit like Alan shows in the DVD when he's "waving or "shaking" intensely. Cziffra advocated extreme looseness in arms. Hardly letting the keys go up entirely.Well a perfectly regulated action won't harm.. This Katsaris version of the t&f is worse than Cziffra's Bumblbee making those big leaps in that speed without loosing the metric seems just impossible. But as said without this looseness in arms the whole mecanism would be completely weared out like in seconds.That's my guess. They say Bach didn't compose this one know anything about that? Wow

Quite honestly, I'm wondering if the arm puts in anything other than the sideways motion for most of those- after seeing quite such a level of stillness. Theoretically the release of muscles could absorb the entire reaction force, save for a tiny fraction that bounces the hand just high enough to grasp the next octave. seeing such an extreme example makes me wonder if a press of the arm serves any needed purpose at all- or simply inhibits freedom? It looks the purest interaction of a grasp from the hand that is balanced by the counterforce of the released arm. I've recently been practising octaves as a bounce away from the keys, starting with contact of each one and squeezing in. Use of the arm is solely passive. I tend to think of combining that with more willful arm movement- but are the fastest octaves based solely on that action perhaps? I'm starting to wonder if that might be case.

It does indeed feel the way you describe although more like an interaction between arm/hand. Lately I've used more and more the last joints of the fingers I'm just mesmerized by what that does to sound clarity and speed.Controlling the octaves from the fingers gives a great feeling. Probably you use slightly different octavtechniques with different contexts.The part you mention is an octaveplaying with altering hands thats very different from parallell playing or the kind you have in Liszt Rhaps 6. A slight rotation towards the thumb is probably taking som pressure off the hand. But your remark is plausible thinking in those terms is kinda new and I'm an old dog....

It looks pretty impressive but I sense strain in the hand and I don't really like the sound. It's not massive and monumental enough... it might be the recording I suppose... AFF