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Liszt, Vol. 2 / Garrick Ohlsson
Bridge Records

Liszt, Vol. 2 / Garrick Ohlsson

$18.99

Details

Composer
LISZT, FRANZ
Artist
Garrick Ohlsson
Format
CD
Label
Bridge Records
Released
Oct 08, 2013
Catalog #
BCD9409
UPC
090404940927

About



LISZT Années de pèlerinage , Book III: Les Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este. Harmonies poétiques et religieuses: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude; Funérailles. Nuages gris. 4 Little Piano Pieces : No. 2 in A?. Mephisto Waltz No. 1. BEETHOVEN-LISZT Adelaide. BACH-LISZT Fantasy and Fugue, S 463 • Garrick Ohlsson (pn) • BRIDGE 9409 (76:27)


A few months back, I was wowed by a blazing new Liszt recital from Valentina Lisitsa (see Fanfare 37:4). Here, on a solidly engineered disc featuring a pianist of an earlier generation, we get something substantially less dazzling, although in its own way even more impressive. Not that Ohlsson lacks technique: whether in the clarity of the voices in the Bach-Liszt Fugue or of the sprays of notes in Jeux d’eaux , Ohlsson strides through this often transcendentally difficult music with supreme and fully justified confidence. Still—and I mean this as a descriptive, rather than an evaluative, claim—there’s a maturity to the playing that we don’t hear in Lisitsa’s more exuberantly youthful and improvisatory performances.


For the most part (the closing Mephisto Waltz is the primary exception), Ohlsson has chosen from Liszt’s more sober works—and for the most part, his moderate tempos and (where appropriate) his bass-centered sonority give the details of the music a chance to sink in. More importantly, I think, he manages to probe beneath the surface of the music and (miraculously) to do so without sacrificing any of its immediate rhetoric. Thus, for instance, there’s no lack of virtuoso sparkle in Jeux d’eaux ; but Ohlsson is also unusually alert to its subtler emotional shadings, capturing the disarming splashes of nostalgic regret, in particular, as well as anyone. Similarly, while he can crush you with the climaxes of Funérailles , he’s unusually tender in the quieter moments, giving the work a nobility it doesn’t always have in the hands of more consistently extroverted pianists like Horowitz and Barere. In his appropriately enthusiastic review of Ohlsson’s previous Bridge Liszt recording (the Sonata and the Ad Nos Fantasy , 35:2), Patrick Rucker referred to Ohlsson’s “profound wisdom and almost excruciating beauty”—and the same overriding qualities certainly characterize this remarkable Funérailles , too.


Ohlsson also has an enviable sense of architecture. This emerges not only in his treatment of the individual works (there’s consistent impetus to Bénédiction , a work that can easily stall but that here provides an engrossing sense of journey), but also in his design of the program as a whole. I particularly enjoyed the way that Jeux d’eaux , which follows the joyful reading of the Bach-Liszt Fugue, serves as to prepare us for beauties of Bénédiction —as well as the way Nuages gris (played with remarkable finesse) and the second of the Four Little Piano Pieces provide a transition between the grimness of Funérailles and the dash of the Mephisto Waltz.


In sum, music-making that deserves to be savored. I hope that Bridge and Ohlsson have plans for continuing the series.


FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

Tracklist 9 tracks

  1. 1 Adelaide, S466/R121 11:23
    Track
    1
    Title
    Adelaide, S466/R121
    Duration
    11:23
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  2. 2 Fantasy 05:55
    Track
    2
    Title
    Fantasy
    Duration
    05:55
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  3. 3 Fugue 05:18
    Track
    3
    Title
    Fugue
    Duration
    05:18
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  4. 4 Annees de pelerinage, 3rd year, S163/R10: IV. Les jeux d'eau a la villa d'Este 08:14
    Track
    4
    Title
    Annees de pelerinage, 3rd year, S163/R10: IV. Les jeux d'eau a la villa d'Este
    Duration
    08:14
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  5. 5 III. Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude 16:18
    Track
    5
    Title
    III. Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude
    Duration
    16:18
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  6. 6 VII. Funerailles 12:24
    Track
    6
    Title
    VII. Funerailles
    Duration
    12:24
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  7. 7 Trube Wolken (Nuages gris), S199/R78 02:55
    Track
    7
    Title
    Trube Wolken (Nuages gris), S199/R78
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  8. 8 5 Kleine Klavierstucke, S192/R60: No. 2. Moderato 10:48
    Track
    8
    Title
    5 Kleine Klavierstucke, S192/R60: No. 2. Moderato
    Duration
    10:48
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson
  9. 9 Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S514/R181, "Mephisto Waltz No. 1" 10:48
    Track
    9
    Title
    Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke, S514/R181, "Mephisto Waltz No. 1"
    Duration
    10:48
    Composer
    Franz Liszt
    Performer
    Garrick Ohlsson