"A Remarkable Evening"

Among his many London appearances was a performance with Pierre Monteux—later recorded— of the Brahms D minor Concerto, of which the Sunday Times critic wrote. "This Everest of concertos sounds no less monumental when its heights are made to seem less hazardous, tackled with assurance, and scaled with ease, as on this occasion." The following months in the same city Katchen was heard in a "marathon" concert at which he played Beethoven's Third, Fourth and Fifth concertos, receiving an accolade from The Times as "one of the few pianists of his generation capable of meeting Beethoven's technical and intellectual demands with assurance." The News Chronicle concurred: "A remarkable evening … Katchen's keyboard stamina is without parallel today. Happily it is balanced by the breadth and grandeur of Beethovenian conception … "