Franz Liszt
263 products
Franz Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage
Liszt: Symphonic Poems / Michael Halász, New Zealand So
Liszt: Works For Violin & Piano
With this recording of a selection of Franz Liszt’s music for violin and piano, Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen aim at expanding our understanding of the prolific composer whose style, especially later, evolved in a manner far ahead of its time. Liszt composed his first music for violin and piano as early as 1832, returning to this instrumental combination throughout his life. Some of the pieces are re-workings of earlier compositions. In the early Grand Duo concertant pure virtuosity and the joy of playing are to the fore, but in the late works Liszt takes us on a journey into his own innermost soul.
Liszt: 12 Grandes etudes / Jin
Liszt’s musical precocity can be measured by the fact that at the age of thirteen he had begun work on what was to become his Op.6, the Etude en douze exercices. After later revisions this became the Grandes Études of 1837 and, with simplifications, the Études d’exécution transcendante of 1851. The monumental 1837 studies were composed after years of travel and at a time when Liszt’s virtuoso status was near its zenith. He transformed the earlier prototype studies, through the prism of his own transcendental technique, into etudes of coruscating technical difficulty and extraordinarily vivid characterisation.
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies / Fagen, Staatskapelle Weimar
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Liszt: Hungarian Fantasy / Goran Filipec, Kollar, Kodaly Philharmonic Orchestra
Franz Liszt had an overwhelming impact on the musical life of his time through revolutionary innovations in harmony, form and pianistic technique. Both Liszt and his brilliant musical heir Ferruccio Busoni regarded their compositions as living entities, always suitable for recycling and reshaping to create new works. This program is an illustration of this practice, with Goran Filipec freely extending and varying the cadenzas in the Hungarian Fantasy, while Busoni enhances the emotional states of horror, grotesque comedy and sublime serenity in the Totentanz. Goran Filipec is renowned for his exceptional interpretations of the works of Franz Liszt and the high virtuosity of his Classical and Romantic repertoire. A laureate of several international piano competitions, Filipec has appeared internationally as a recitalist and soloist with symphony orchestras across Europe, the Americas and Japan. He has been invited on multiple occasions to the Mariinsky Theatre Contemporary Piano Faces festival, Progetto Martha Argerich and Dubrovnik Summer Festival. Filipec is co-founder and president of the Société Franz Liszt de Genève, which is devoted to the appreciation and study of the Hungarian composer’s oeuvre.
Idil Biret Franz Liszt 200th Anniversary Edition
Liszt: Paganini Etudes / Tomellini
Young and talented Elisa Tomellini loves challenges and is used to climbing high mountain peaks. Both physical as well as musical. No wonder then that she is the first woman to perform the first version of the Etudes aprés Paganini (S.140) that Robert Schumann reviewed as “the most difficult work ever written for the piano, as is the original for the violin. Certainly only a few pianists will be able to tackle them, perhaps no more than four of five in the world.” Dynamic is proud to feature one of them. As pianists almost always play the simplified version re-written by Liszt himself in 1852, the album Paganini Études and other virtuoso piano works contains the first 1838 version that Liszt wrote inspired by the Caprices, successfully achieving on the piano an extreme virtuosity that was unprecedented in that instrument’s literature. Born in Genoa, Italy, Elisa Tomellini has been studying piano since the age of five. She was admitted to the prestigious Music Academy ‘Incontri Col Maestro’ in Imola at the age of sixteen. In 1997 she gained a diploma at the Conservatory G. Verdi in Milan. She has won several pries at international competitions such as the ‘Viotti Valsesia,’ the ‘Concorso di Cantu’ and the ‘Concorso Citta di Pavia.’
Liszt: Complete Piano, Vol. 50 - Ugarischer Romanzero / Lee
The eighteen ‘Ungarischer Romanzero’ are transcriptions of popular Hungarian melodies made partially in collaboration with violinist Ede Remenyi. The manuscripts are not always complete, with space for performers to add their own elaborations, or to follow Liszt’s own hints on his own performances of pieces that give valuable insights into his Hungarian influences in their rawest form. The ‘Hungarian National Melodies’ provide opportunities for amateur players, while the hugely popular Rakoczi March became the unofficial national anthem of Hungary, also being used by Berlioz and other composers. Pianist Warren Lee made his televised debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of six and was the first prize winner of the 1995 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition and the Grand Prix Ivo Pogorelich. His discography includes many acclaimed albums of solo and chamber music repertoire. The ‘American Record Guide’ called him a “first-rate artist” while Fanfare noted that he is “a pianist to watch out, whether as a soloist or chamber musician.”
Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S172a (1847 versi
Liszt: Music on National Themes / Csabay
Volume 58 of the critically acclaimed Liszt Complete Piano Music edition spans Canzone napolitana and the Hungarian Folk Songs to a paraphrase of God Save the Queen. Includes numerous rarely recorded rarities. Performed by award-winning pianist Domonkos Csabay, a native of Hungary. This is his debut on Naxos. Based in the UK since 2015, Hungarian accompanist, répétiteur and chamber musician Domonkos Csabay performs a wide range of classical repertoire. Domonkos has won numerous prizes in the last two years, including first prize in the Brant (now renamed as ‘Birmingham’) International Piano Competition. He played as a pre-concert showcase performer for concerts by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and pianist Paul Lewis and made his debut on BBC Radio 3 in 2018, broadcasting the famously virtuosic Eroica variations by Beethoven.
Liszt: A Faust Symphony (The Beecham Collection)
Liszt: Complete Piano Music Vol 21 / K. Scherbakov
But, hang on a minute, this music certainly doesn’t sound like Liszt and, of course, it isn’t – it’s Beethoven. Although I have been aware of Liszt’s transcriptions of his symphonies for some time, this is my first experience of them. I approached the disc with several questions in my mind: Why did Liszt transcribe them? Why, when I can easily choose between recordings by Klemperer, Karajan, Böhm and Zinman, should I want to listen to a piano version? Even if I am interested in piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies, should I really be starting with the Ninth?
I would presume that Liszt was motivated to produce his transcriptions as a vehicle for his own performance and to increase the possibility of their performance more generally; although they would only ever be accessible to great virtuosos. My initial reason for wanting to listen to this was curiosity but I will re-listen in the future because the experience was much more compelling than I had expected. It made me think afresh about a work I thought I knew well. Each time I have listened to it I have marvelled at Beethoven’s music, Liszt’s conception for the piano, and Scherbakov’s musicianship and virtuosity.
My feeling is that the difficulties of playing the 9th Symphony on the piano must increase progressively throughout the work. The first movement is relatively straightforward compared to the scherzo, for which there is an incessant rhythmic challenge; despite this Scherbakov takes all the other repeats except the last one. In the adagio the difficulty is obviously not one of hitting the notes but conveying the feeling normally imparted in the string writing. Sensibly Scherbakov adopts a relatively fast tempo (although the duration of 12 minutes is similar to Zinman, Böhm takes about half as long again) and yet he convincingly conveys the spiritual essence of the music. But all this is nothing compared to the finale! As this began, I was really sceptical. Hadn’t Liszt thought of bringing at least a tenor along with him? Can a piano really sing like four soloists and a chorus? Of course it can’t but Scherbakov’s piano sings for all it is worth and the words went round in my head. The experience was quite different but still a rich broth rather than a consommé. Scherbakov handles the various contrasting sections of the finale with the same skill as a great conductor and he brings off a magnificent conclusion. The fantastic glow that you should feel at the end of this work was just as intense as ever.
Second time round, listening to this disc with the orchestral score was an interesting experience. The most striking thing was how many of the notes are in the piano version, a very high proportion and certainly all the ones that matter. Curiously though, there seems to be a small cut in the scherzo of eight bars just before the last repeated section (at 9’52" on track 2). This section (on page 133 of the Dover edition of the score) is played on all the orchestral versions mentioned above. Essentially it is a repeat of the opening eight bars of this movement. I don’t know whether Liszt, Scherbakov or Naxos is responsible for the omission. It would be surprising if it were Liszt because this short passage is so straightforward that even I could transcribe it for the piano (you couldn’t say that for more than 99% of the rest of this work!) although perhaps these bars were not in the edition of the score he used. Whatever the explanation, I raise it as a point of interest and do not feel that it detracts significantly from his truly magnificent rendition of this movement.
The recorded sound is not absolutely top-drawer and the piano initially seemed a little harsh in tone (this is not entirely inappropriate at the beginning of this work) but my ears adapted. The booklet is rather disappointing – no need here for a biography of Liszt, rather some more detail about the transcriptions would have been appreciated. But, for me, given music-making like this, these are minor considerations.
There is competition, both from within Leslie Howard’s complete Liszt series and also a complete Beethoven symphony transcription set by Cyprien Katsaris (see link to review below). Obviously, I haven’t heard these discs (yet) but, regardless of their merits, Scherbakov is worth hearing as well.
I am glad I started my piano transcription experience with the Ninth because it has made me want to explore the rest of the series. Apparently Scherbakov has already recorded three discs including the first six symphonies (see links to reviews of two of the discs below) and these are already available. I shall be looking out for these and the rest of this series, whatever their place in Naxos’s grand scheme. I shall also await volume 28 with anticipation - perhaps it might contain some original music by Liszt?
This is a magnificent disc and listening to it is a truly uplifting experience.
-- Patrick C. Waller, MusicWeb International
V1: ORGAN WORKS (B-A-C-H)
Liszt: Christus Oratotio / Kofman, Hirzel, Et Al
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Liszt Complete Piano Music, Vol. 14: Bunte Reihe
The Very Best Of Liszt
Includes work(s) by Franz Liszt.
Scene Liszt:: Organ Works Vol 1 - B-a-c-h / Schönheit
This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
Liszt: Harmonies poetiques et religieusses / Michael Korstick
Franz Liszt’s mystical piano cycle, Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses takes its title from a collection of poems by the French romanticist Alphonse de Lamartine and underwent an unusally long period of gestation, written over a period of two decades. Liszt’s religious and abiding preoccupation with poetic themes in his creative works was in part fueled by his passion for the works of and friendship with de Lamartine. Given a splendid interpretation by pianist, Michael Korstick.
Fiorentino plays Liszt
Liszt Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies
Liszt: Complete Piano Music Vol 25 / Alexandre Dossin
At times Dossin's melodic pushing and pulling is a bit much (the Rigoletto Paraphrase's exposition), yet more than enough moments reveal the work of a caring keyboard master. For example, Dossin coaxes great tonal variety and emotional impact from the murky low-register passages in the Miserere from Il Trovatore. Also note the I Lombardi paraphrase's beautifully gilded arpeggios, Dossin's sense of long-lined control throughout the taxing left-hand octaves in Reminiscences De Boccanegra, or the way he conveys both power and luminosity in the Ernani paraphrase's bushels of chords. No doubt that Naxos' ample, detailed sonics enhance my observations. I hope that the label has further projects in store for this talented pianist.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Liszt: Works For Two Pianos / Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov
Even before meeting they were dedicating hours of practice to Liszt’s Mephisto Waltzes. An international solo piano competition was coming up, and the two young pianists were scheduled to vie against each other with this work. Twenty-five years and dozens of successful competitions later, the same two pianists sat down opposite each other at two grand pianos to perform not as rivals but as a renowned duo. “We have decided to dedicate this CD recording to Franz Liszt’s original works for two pianos and to his versions of his own solo piano compositions for two pianos” (Genova & Dimitrov Piano Duo).
Liszt: Années De Pèlerinage Iii - Venezia E Napoli / Korstick
Liszt: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 59 - Schubert Transcriptions
As a boy during the years 1822–23 Liszt studied in Vienna with Czerny and Salieri, at the same time as Schubert was winning his reputation as a leading composer in the city. Many years later Liszt did much to introduce Schubert’s music to a wider audience, not least through his prodigious transcriptions. In the case of the Three Marches and Mélodies hongroises, Liszt selected music originally written for piano duet, but in Soirées de Vienne, a set of nine pieces of which some were to remain prominent in Liszt’s concert repertoire, he fashioned a sequence of truly memorable valse-caprices.
