Liszt, F.: Lieder

Liszt, F.: Piano Music (Famous Piano Works)

CLASSICS IN HEAVEN

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Kenneth MacMillan based his dark, intense ballet Mayerling on the tragic true story of Crown Prince Rudolf and his mistress Mary Vetsera, and it is celebrated as one of The Royal Ballet’s narrative masterpieces. The oppressive world of the Austro-Hungarian empire is brought to life by the whole Company, with a score drawn from the sweeping music of Franz Liszt, and with sumptuous designs by Nicholas Georgiadis. Steven McRae dances Rudolf, one of the most technically and emotionally demanding roles in the repertory for male dancers, with Sarah Lamb as Mary Vetsera, in choreography that pushes classical ballet to its limits. This release is recorded in true Surround Sound.

Liszt: Schubert Song Transcriptions

Classical Music

The Faust Symphony undoubtedly constitutes one of the principal works of Liszt’s Weimar period, if not indeed his orchestral masterpiece. Liszt had become acquainted with Goethe’s poem Faust in 1830, in the French translation of Gérard de Nerval. He began composing the work in the 1840s, after a visit to the Goethe House in Weimar. Its first performance was arranged for September 1857, to mark the centenary of Grand Duke Carl August and the erection of a statue to Goethe and Schiller. On this occasion Liszt rounded the work off by adding a tenor solo and chorus at the end. The premiere took place on 5 September. This musical transposition of the poem is performed here by Orchester Wiener Akademie under Martin Haselböck, and follows their recording of Liszt’s transcriptions of works by Schubert, released in 2015 (Alpha 471). In parallel with this, the Viennese period-instrument orchestra is also continuing its Resound Beethoven project, the recording of the complete symphonies at the venues of their first performances.

Franz Liszt was 67 when he composed his Via Crucis, yet it did not receive it's first performance until 1929, 43 years after the composer's death. This work of his mature years is in 15 sections, retracing the Stations of the Cross that mark the stages of Christ's Passion, from being condemned to death to being laid in the tomb. Combining Gregorian chant, the Lutheran liturgy and the Latin, German and Aramaic languages, the Via Crucis shows real formal originality. A devout believer, Liszt gives us here his most important sacred work. He composed several versions: for mixed choir, soloists and organ (with the organ part optionally transcribed for piano), for piano solo, organ solo, and two pianos. After an album devoted to Janacek, the Collegium Vocale founded by Philippe Herreweghe is once again conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw in this new Alpha recording.

The pre-eminent Lisztian of our day returns to Brilliant Classics for a symphonic sequel of transcriptions. In 2018, Brilliant Classics issued Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometta playing the 12 symphonic poems of Liszt in the composer's own transcriptions for piano duo (95748). The set won glowing reviews: 'Not only do Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometto navigate Liszt's technical challenges with fluency and ease,' wrote Jed Distler for Classics Today, 'but they also treat the scores seriously... Howard's excellent annotations and Brilliant Classics' budget price further clinch my recommendation for collectors.' As before, Leslie Howard supplies his own, invaluable insights to accompany this trio of symphonies in Liszt's transcriptions for piano duo. As with the symphonic poems, Liszt remains utterly faithful to the originals, preserving the spirit and sound of the orchestral scores without compromising the texts and, in the case of Beethoven's Ninth, being scrupulously attentive to his hero's great masterpiece. Howard and Ometta observe all of Beethoven's (and Liszt's) repeat markings in the Scherzo, presenting the fullest and most authentic text available. The Faust Symphony has long been recognised as Liszt's greatest orchestral work, and it ranks with the B minor Piano Sonata and the oratorio Christus as the noblest of his musical achievements. The two-piano version reached it's final form by 1863, before Liszt added a short, ethereal passage to the coda of the second movement in 1880, and these bars are added in the present performance. By it's side, the Dante Symphony has often been overlooked and unjustly disparaged. Yet few compossers have depicted hell and damnation as vividly as Liszt (despite the composer's own deep and optimistic Christian faith) in the opening Inferno movement, and it's companion portrait of Purgatory is a wholly original musical conception whose harmonies prefigure many things later familiar from Wagner's Parsifal or the symphonies of Bruckner. Rather less familiar is Liszt's transcription of his Rakoczy March for two pianos and eight hands, for which Howard and Ometta are joined by Leonora Armellini and Igor Roma. Unlike his solopiano transcription of Beethoven's Ninth, this piano duo version incorporates all the vocal parts within the instrumental texture.

Classical Music

Emmanuel Despax's eighth release for Signum Classics delves into the dramatic and visionary world of Franz Liszt, from the great Sonata in B minor to the celestail Benediction de Deur dans la solitude. Despax offers a unique perspective on Liszt's work through a very personal connection to the composer. His musical upbringing is rooted in a lineage of mentors which traces back to Liszt, creating a deep connection to the composer's legacy. Despax comments "This lineage has deeply influenced my musical upbringing, instilling a unique perspective on interpretation, fostering an insatiable curiosity... emphasising engaging with the score with utmost integrity, without shortcuts or compromise. Above all, this tradition signifies a performance ethos... to serve as a conduit between the music and the audience".

Liszt: Complete Symphonic Poems for Two Pianos, Vol. 3 (The)

Liszt: Complete Symphonic Poems for Two Pianos, Vol. 2 (The)

Liszt: Complete Symphonic Poems for Two Pianos, Vol. 1 (The)

LISZT: 6 Hungarian Rhapsodies for Piano Four-Hands