Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Essential All-Liszt Recitals Part 1

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Essential All-Liszt Recitals Part 1 · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:07
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
• 0:11
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:15
  I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the Piano
• 0:18
  Maven through my Substack page, and I've provided
• 0:22
  the link to do so in our episode description.
• 0:26
  Subscribers get a free download at the start
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  of each month, and usually it's some rare piano
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  item from my vast collection of piano recordings,
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  and I'm also open to suggestions as to what you
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  might like for a download. of the month. Your
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  paid subscription helps to keep this podcast
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  alive and afloat as we settle into our third
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  season. One of our subscribers asked if I could
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  recommend a disc that could serve as an introduction
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  to the music of Franz Liszt, like a mixed recital
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  that might include a large work like the B minor
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  Sonata or maybe the Dante Sonata, but that this
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  disc would... not necessarily focus upon a cycle
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  like the Année de Pelerinage or the Transcendental
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  Etudes or the Hungarian Rhapsodies and so on
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  and so forth. So I started thinking about this
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  and doing a little research, and I came up with
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  a whole bunch of releases that fit the bill,
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  mixing and matching various list works. Some
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  of these do have the B minor sonata, but... You
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  know, it's really the combination of the works
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  on these individual discs and how they all fit
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  together as an entity in itself. So, for this
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  episode, I'm going to talk about seven releases.
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  Most of these I've reviewed in the past, and
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  I'm happy to have all of these in my collection.
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  And I think that any of these seven would be
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  a really good start if you're new to Liszt. I
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  would have all of them in my collection. This
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  is an all -list release that Claudio Arau made
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  for Phillips. It was actually his first list
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  disc for Phillips. The first side on the original
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  LP contained the Petrarch sonettos, numbers 104
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  and 123, from the Année de Pelerinage book two,
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  and these were bracketing the B minor ballade.
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  And then side two began with Valet d 'Auberman
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  from Année de Pelerinage, book one. It continued
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  with the Valse oublié, number one. And the final
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  work was the Fountains of the Villadeste from
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  book three of Année de Pelerinage. And what I
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  love about this release is that it represents
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  a Rao in his more rhetorical and serious art
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  with a capital A manifestation, yet he's also
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  at the tip top of his technical form and his
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  beautiful sound and infinite range of color and
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  nuance. beautifully captured by the Phillips
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  engineers. I would say that this disc is really
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  an ideal introduction to Claudio Arau as a list
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  interpreter. Number two on my list, the late
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  Japanese pianist Minoru Nojima. made one list
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  disc released on the reference label. It first
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  came out in 1988, I believe. It has a brilliant...
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  yet noble and very shapely list sonata that has
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  lots of character and contrast and forward momentum
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  in the dramatic virtuosic sections. And those
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  big octave passages always emerge from what came
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  before, rather than feeling like, you know, someone
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  inserting an octave etude. This disc also has
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  one of the best accounts of the transcendental
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  etude, Fufollet, the fifth etude. And the double
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  notes here are just so supple and feathery. There's
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  also a wonderful harmonie du soi from the transcendental
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  etudes. There's an absolutely effortless La Campanella
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  and a terrific Mephisto waltz number one that
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  is... just perfectly paced, and it has everything
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  going for it. And it's reference recording, so
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  the engineering is just absolutely top -notch.
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  In fact, this was considered an audiophile demonstration
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  disc back in the day, both on LP and then when
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  it came out on CD. Number three on my list. Earl
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  Wilde's 1968 release on the Vanguard label called
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  The Demonic List. This has been available in
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  various formats on various labels, and all of
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  the selections are associated with the devil.
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  I just love the bravura and the panache and the
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  rhythmic life that Earl Wilde brings to that
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  difficult Robert le Diable transcription. And
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  the controlled abandon that he brings to Nomen
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  Reigen and the Mephisto Polka. The Faust waltz.
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  you know, which is a transcription of The Big
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  Walls from Gounod's opera. It just soars and
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  scintillates. And there's also a wonderfully
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  paced and very intelligently interpreted Don
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  Juan fantasy. And I think this interpretation
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  gives much greater voice to the music's operatic.
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  context than many young speed demons who just
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  plow through the piece like it's an Olympic event.
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  Now, only in the Mephisto waltz, in the middle
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  section leaps, do I detect an air of slight caution.
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  But then again, Erwald makes up for it by providing
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  his own imaginative cadenza for the ending. It's
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  really quite wonderful. Number four. This is
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  a release that I don't think is on anyone's radar,
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  but it was sent to me for review, and I just
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  loved it. It's on the Navona label, and the title
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  of this CD is called Majestic List, and that's
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  a very appropriate title, not just for the lyricism
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  that characterizes the selections, but also for
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  the pianist, Sandrine... Ederli Sayo. I hope
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  I'm pronouncing her name correctly. You'll see
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  her name in the episode description, and you'll
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  figure out how to pronounce it better than me.
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  Anyway, her interpretations are just so aristocratic
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  and authoritative, and she channels her considerable
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  technique always toward musical ends, very much
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  in the way of Claudio Arau and George Paulette.
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  And she builds her sonority from the bottom up
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  with great attention to bass lines. You listen
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  to the benediction de Dieu, and she comes up
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  with these gorgeous harp -like sounds in the
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  arpeggios. She really keeps this long piece going.
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  And also in the St. Francis legend, the St. Paul
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  walking on the water, she really evokes cresting
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  and crashing waves that build to... powerful
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  climaxes. She also plays the six consolations,
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  and they just sing out so beautifully, maybe
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  even more so than George Paulette. And she plays
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  that hackneyed Liebestrom number three, you know.
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  You know, she plays this with just such straightforward
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  nobility, and it contrasts to the emotive treacle
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  that we often hear. And she also plays en rêve,
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  which is a very understated piece. And also on
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  this disc is the Schubert stanchion in Liszt's
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  transcription. She doesn't match the miracle
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  of the late. Vladimir Horowitz recording, but
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  no one does. But it comes pretty damn close.
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  And apparently all these selections were recorded
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  in a single day on September 9th, 2022. So I
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  am suspecting that there's minimal editing, if
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  there was any. But it really does feel like a
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  live performance in all of these selections.
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  So definitely check this disc out. majestic list
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  number five on my list the noxus label has slowly
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  been working its way through a complete list
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  edition featuring a multitude of pianists and
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  at the top of the list of releases still remains
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  the very very first volume that launched the
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  series which features the great brazilian pianist
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  arnaldo cohen he has not made all that many recordings
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  over the course of his career, which I think
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  is a shame. But this 1996 list volume one on
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  Noxus, I think is an essential list recital by
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  any standard. And just as Earl Wilde's demonic
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  list disc centers around the devil, Noxus volume
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  one is all about death. And who knew that death
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  could sound so vibrant and colorful and even
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  fun, such as in the Liszt transcription of Saint
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  -Saëns' tone poem, Dance Macabre. And, of course,
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  Liszt adds his own bells and whistles to the
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  Saint -Saëns original. Arnaldo Cohen just plays
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  it to the hilt. He also plays the solo piano
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  version of the Totentanz, and my goodness, he
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  sounds like a full orchestra in this performance.
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  There are two late works here, the Noir Gris
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  and the very strange Un Stern Sinistre Disastro.
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  And the centerpiece of this recital is the big...
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  grand fantasy dramatique on Meyerbeer's opera
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  Les Huguenots. And this is a musical and virtuoso
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  tour de force that needs the kind of transcendental
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  technique and musicianship that Ronaldo Cohen
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  provides in big, big volumes. And he also plays...
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  La lugubre gondola 1 and 2, and also that lovely
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  Impromptu, the Nocturne of 1872. This is a fabulous
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  disc. My sixth recommendation on this list is
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  another mixed -list recital that features larger
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  and smaller works, and it blends well -known
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  fare with less familiar selections. This disc...
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  has long been a cornerstone of my collection.
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  It's the list recital that Jean -Eflin Bavouze
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  recorded for the MDG label. And I think it's
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  appropriate that I quote at length from my original
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  review for ClassicToday .com of this 2005 release.
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  I wrote the following. All the great dead list
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  players knew how to balance tremolos, arpeggios,
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  and similar background devices against melodic
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  components so that the textures would sing out
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  with variety in color, emerge in proper perspective,
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  and never, ever bog down. They also knew... how
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  to serve Liszt's stagey lyrical inspirations
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  wholeheartedly and generously. Jean -Ephraim
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  Bavouze knows these secrets and has totally internalized
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  them. That's why the invocations, bass rumbles,
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  and rattling tremolos sound uplifting rather
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  than bombastic, and the same goes for the ending
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  of the gorgeously paced Wagner Liszt Liebestod,
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  or why En Rêve's lyric simplicity sounds contained
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  and dignified rather than mawkish. The Grosse
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  Konzertsolo. A prototype for Liszt's two -piano
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  Concerto Pathetique receives a blazing, utterly
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  inspired reading, where fire and poetry lock
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  horns and never let up. It puts all other recorded
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  performances of this piece in the shade. Not
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  that there have been that many recordings, I
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  admit. Similarly, the rarely heard La Notte,
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  boasts such high levels of pianistic finish and
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  stylish elegance that you'll never need to hear
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  this piece in its orchestral version again, that
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  is, if you've heard it at all, ever. As for being
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  an orchestra, and a sexy one at that, look no
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  further than Bavuzet's remarkable playing of
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  Wagner's Prelude to Tristan Unisoldi in the Zoltan
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  Koscius transcription. Conversely, the bleak,
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  anti -virtuosic sound world of the late Liszt
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  also sparks Bavuzet's imagination. For instance,
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  he judges the odd chromatic twists and turns
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  of Schlaflos in a more fluid fashion than Paul
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  Lewis's very fine recording on Harmonia Mundi.
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  Okay, so that's a big quote from my review of
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  the Jean -Ephraim Bavouze list disc on MDG. Obviously,
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  I really liked it. And the title of this recital
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  is called Hymn à la Nuit. So, I guess we have
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  Earl Wilde's Devil... Arnaldo Cohen's Death and
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  Jean -Eflin Bavouze's Night. Anyway, this is
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  a fantastic disc. You definitely have to check
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  it out. And the last one on this list, number
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  seven. This is a no -brainer because it's been
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  a reference recording since its initial appearance
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  in the early 1970s, I think, when it first came
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  out. Maybe the late 60s. I don't remember, and
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  I'm too lazy to look it up now. You will tell
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  me the exact date. But it's not important. But
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  what's important is that this is one of the best
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  discs that Vladimir Ashkenazi ever made. You
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  know, when he first started recording for Decca,
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  he planned his releases around different composers.
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  Like he would do a Mozart disc, then a Schubert
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  disc, and then a Beethoven disc. and a Brahms...
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  No, he didn't do a Brahms disc, but basically
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  it was diversifying his portfolio. And then there
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  was this Liszt disc that... was absolutely extraordinary.
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  It actually wasn't until the 70s and 80s where
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  Ashkenazi then started focusing on doing all
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  of the big cycles, you know, his complete Chopin,
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  complete Beethoven, complete Rachmaninoff, and
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  so on and so forth. But this list disc is so
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  interesting because, first of all, Ashkenazi
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  was not really known as a list player, and he
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  chose his list repertoire very carefully. and
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  very selectively. The disc contains selections
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  from the Transcendental Etudes, numbers 1, 2,
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  3, 5, 8, 10, and 11, plus a relatively unknown
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  yet marvelous work called the Gorchakov Impromptu,
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  and then the disc finished with the Mephisto
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  waltz number 1. And the etudes are extraordinary
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  performances. These are vividly detailed and
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  full of color and scintillation when needed.
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  And real personal poetry. The Mephisto waltz
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  is one of the best integrated and mindfully virtuosic
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  interpretations ever recorded. It has just one
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  instance of Ashkenazi... even slightly showing
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  off which are in those fast leaps those big leaps
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  i mean i'm not singing it very well but he plays
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  this with such speed and accuracy and audacity
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  with absolutely no technical compromise with
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  no textural splintering at all i mean This passage
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  alone just beggars belief, but the entire performance
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  is really wonderful. Now, Ashkenazi had recorded
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  Mephisto waltz number one in Russia before he
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  left for the West, and that's also pretty spectacular.
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  But the added musical maturity together with
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  his still high -capacity virtuosity, as well
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  as Deka's sonics, I think... all add up to one
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  of my three or four reference versions of the
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  Mephisto waltz number one. So these are seven
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  list releases, and that's seven out of very many,
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  and I'm going to save the others for future episodes.
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  I also welcome your suggestions for list recitals
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  to talk about, although I would not be surprised
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  if your suggestions happen. also to be on my
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  Lists of Lists, all puns intended. And at some
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  point, I should do episodes on complete cycles
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  of the Transcendental Etudes, the Ane de Pellerinage,
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  the Paganini Etudes, the Hungarian Rhapsodies,
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  etc., etc. I've already done a few Lists Sonata
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  episodes, and I have a couple of others planned
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  as well. But do consider investigating these
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  seven list recitals that I've talked about on
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  this episode, if you have not yet heard them.
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  These seven releases will enhance any serious
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  piano collection for sure. This is Jed Disler,
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  and you've been listening to The Piano Maven,
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  your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  I look forward to being with you for our next
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  episode, so until then... Take good care.