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Beethoven Meets Liszt · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:00
  This is Jed Distler, and welcome to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
• 0:18
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• 0:27
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• 0:37
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• 0:44
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• 0:54
  As you know, we just have emerged from a mini series devoted to the 32 piano sonatas of Beethoven with 64 performances by 64 different pianists recommended.
• 1:08
  But have we totally emerged? That's the question.
• 1:13
  Not necessarily because we still have two days left in this week and in this month for that matter.
• 1:21
  So I thought I would throw in two extra Beethoven episodes and then starting on Monday, February 3rd, we go back to our regular two episodes per week with new episodes dropping every Monday and Thursday.
• 1:38
  Well, some of you have written to me saying that you wish I would continue to have daily episodes.
• 1:44
  Well, let's just say that the more of you that subscribe, the better the chances of that happening.
• 1:51
  But I'm not going to make any promises just yet.
• 1:54
  And, you know, besides I have so much on my plate with composing deadlines, I'm preparing for upcoming concerts.
• 2:02
  And of course, there's my weekly radio show between the keys on WWFM.org, the classical network.
• 2:11
  And there, by the way, I've recently aired my 500th episode. Can you believe that? Shameless self promotion here.
• 2:20
  And I know that some of you piano maven subscribers listen to Between the Keys every week, either on the dial or through the station's live stream.
• 2:30
  And also past episodes for the show are available as webcasts.
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  So what I'm saying is that there's a lot going on now, but we will keep the dialogue going, so to speak.
• 2:44
  Back to the subject of Beethoven. I thought that for today we can explore the nine symphonies of Beethoven transcribed for piano solo by Franz Liszt.
• 2:58
  Back in the days before recordings and radio were invented and when it wasn't so easy to travel to orchestral concerts,
• 3:08
  a lot of orchestral music, as well as chamber music and opera and choral music and so forth,
• 3:15
  was disseminated to the public in the form of piano transcriptions, often for one piano, four hands.
• 3:24
  And these arrangements primarily were designated for domestic use.
• 3:29
  Now, although Franz Liszt intended his solo piano transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies to be a means to disseminate the music, as I've described,
• 3:41
  he certainly did not make things easy for either amateurs at home or for professionals.
• 3:48
  He exploits the piano's virtuosic capabilities at full tilt.
• 3:54
  He deploys the keyboard with such skill and know-how that these arrangements always sound totally idiomatic.
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  And also, Beethoven knew what to leave in and what to leave out, which is the mark of a really great transcriber.
• 4:12
  It wasn't until Glenn Gould recorded the Beethoven Liszt Fifth Symphony that any of these transcriptions first appeared on commercial discs, so far as I know.
• 4:25
  But gradually others were added. For instance, Roger Woodward made the premiere recording of the Beethoven Liszt Arroyacus Symphony, I think, in the late 1970s.
• 4:38
  And there have been a lot of very fine individual recordings for individual symphonies, like Earl Wild in Symphony No. 1.
• 4:47
  Glenn Gould recorded Symphony No. 6 for the CBC, which came out on Sony Classical many years ago.
• 4:56
  And most recently, there was an amazing account of the Arroyacus with pianist Paul Wee, issued on the Beast label.
• 5:05
  That is quite a performance. Igor Levitt, by the way, recently played Symphony No. 7 at Carnegie Hall.
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  And several friends of mine who were at that concert and whose ears I trust said that it was just extraordinary.
• 5:20
  And maybe he will record it. I really hope so.
• 5:23
  But on this podcast episode, I'm only going to talk about Beethoven Liszt Symphony cycles, not individual recordings, cycles.
• 5:34
  That's what I'm going to be talking about.
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  Two of these cycles feature a variety of pianists, but they were released and intended as cycles.
• 5:44
  So they deserve to be talked about in this context.
• 5:48
  While the rest of these cycles feature individual pianists who have each recorded the complete Beethoven Liszt symphonies.
• 5:59
  So let's begin at the very beginning.
• 6:12
  Idil Biret became the first pianist to complete recording all nine symphonies, which she did between 1985 and 1986 for the German Elektrola label.
• 6:27
  These were digital recordings that came out in a box of vinyl LPs.
• 6:32
  And I remember they were selling as an expensive import at the time.
• 6:37
  It never came out on CD in the West until Edel Barett's own Noxus distributed label, IBA, acquired the Masters.
• 6:49
  In deference to the limitations of LP sides, Edel Barett did not observe all of the repeats, which is just as well because her tempos generally are quite slow.
• 7:04
  And sometimes they're frankly ponderous.
• 7:07
  But her articulation is meticulous and her inner rhythm for all of the slowness never goes slack. She manages to keep everything moving.
• 7:19
  But sometimes the limits of the piano's sustaining capabilities defeat her tempos, such as in the seventh symphony's inner movements or the climaxes in the ninth symphony's first movement.
• 7:35
  But she compensates by way of color or peddling.
• 7:39
  Like, I guess a good example of that is the Pastoral Symphony's first movement.
• 7:44
  Also, it should be noted that she takes what Liszt writes pretty much on faith.
• 7:50
  She doesn't really add anything or monkey around with the text.
• 7:55
  So far as I know, I remember I was following the scores when I wrote my review of the cycle when it came out on CD, and I really didn't notice anything askance.
• 8:07
  However, I do find the Beethoven Liszt cycle on Noxus that was recorded by Konstantin Shcherbakov much more scintillating.
• 8:18
  Now, some symphonies come off better than others, but he's a rock-solid virtuoso and a really excellent musician.
• 8:25
  My favorites in his cycle, I think, include the incredible versions he did of Numbers 2 and 4 and 8.
• 8:35
  Those really stood out for me. I certainly remember that when I was reviewing them.
• 8:39
  The truth is all of these are on a very high level.
• 8:42
  Also, the cycle that Leslie Howard recorded for his complete Liszt piano works project on Hyperion belongs in the top tier.
• 8:52
  And these transcriptions, I think, bring out Leslie Howard's most technically impressive and musically inspired work.
• 9:00
  He also recorded alternate versions for certain symphonies and or movements, but this is a very strong cycle also.
• 9:09
  I think it was in the late 1980s when Harmonia Mundi issued a Beethoven Liszt cycle featuring different pianists,
• 9:20
  and they reissued this set in 2020 for the Beethoven anniversary year.
• 9:25
  It always struck me as kind of a mixed bag, and when I re-heard it in 2020 for review, it really didn't change my mind at all.
• 9:36
  Symphonies 1 and 2 were with Jean-Louis Hagenauer. I hope I'm pronouncing his name right.
• 9:45
  Hagenauer, H-A-G-U-E-N-A-U-E-R. I thought these performances were rather careful and underplayed.
• 9:55
  And then we have Georges Ploudemacher in the Eroica No. 3.
• 10:00
  This is a good musicianly performance, but when you consider Paul Wee's recent recording, it is not quite on that level.
• 10:10
  I mean, it's very good.
• 10:12
  No. 4 is with Alain Planer, and this is a really good performance, especially in the fleet and playful finale.
• 10:22
  Paul Bedorescoto was featured in symphony No. 5.
• 10:27
  He gets a really good sound out of the instrument, but I found his rhythm to be somewhat jerky, and it's kind of an erratic performance, but it has its moments.
• 10:38
  But with symphony No. 6, we get this gorgeous performance by Michel d'Alberto.
• 10:45
  He's in total command of the difficult piano writing, and he conveys wonderful sustaining power.
• 10:52
  By the way, this recording was stolen by William Barrington Coop to release on his concert artist label under the name of his wife Joyce Hatto.
• 11:05
  So if you see the Joyce Hatto Beethoven List 6 symphony, that's Michel d'Alberto.
• 11:12
  Symphony No. 7 is with Jean-Claude Penetier, and this is another rather careful reading. I didn't care for it very much.
• 11:23
  But Alain Planer more than just gets through No. 8. He gives a very solid rendition. I like this performance quite a lot.
• 11:33
  Now, for symphony No. 9, they did not include the solo piano version, but rather they included lists, transcription for two pianos.
• 11:43
  And this performance that they offer with Georges Plutemacher and Alain Planer is still really competitive in regard to ensemble discipline and their intelligent choices of tempo.
• 11:58
  It's very well done, and I like this recording. I'm very happy that it's available again.
• 12:04
  There was yet another Beethoven List cycle with various pianists issued on Hungarian, and in this cycle they did have the 9th symphony in the solo version.
• 12:17
  When I reviewed this set for ClassicsToday.com many, many years ago, I think it's probably available as a download or through streaming services, but the original physical set of CDs is long gone.
• 12:33
  But since it was released as an integral cycle, I should talk about it, even though it was really uneven. It had Gabor Zalog, C-S-A-L-O-G, I hope I'm pronouncing his name right.
• 12:48
  He played the first, third, and eighth symphonies, and these were really the best things in the cycle.
• 12:55
  His performances are a little bit sober and stolid, kind of in the manner of the Karl Böhm Vienna Philharmonic recordings, but the pianism is really spot on, especially in symphony number 8.
• 13:10
  He really got the rustic humor down perfectly in the second and third movements.
• 13:15
  For symphonies 2, 4, and 6, we have the pianist Adrian Krauss, and I liked his big sound and wide dynamic range.
• 13:26
  And in the second symphony, he made just a wonderfully smooth transition between the first movement introduction and the main section, and the finale of number 2 had a lot of personality and zip.
• 13:41
  The pianist Jula Kiss plays symphonies 5 and 7, and these generally are careful and not really competitive performances.
• 13:52
  For the solo version of symphony number 9, Zaba Kirali has a really good technique to cope with the difficulties, but the playing struck me as generally dry and kind of monochrome.
• 14:06
  It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before a period instrument version came along, and we have a really stimulating cycle here with the Russian pianist Yuri Martinov.
• 14:19
  He uses two instruments in these recordings, a Bluthner piano from around 1867 and an Erard model from 1837.
• 14:31
  He's a really flamboyant virtuoso in the best way, and basically he treats these works not so much as orchestra transcriptions, but really as piano music.
• 14:43
  He employs a lot of tempo fluctuation and fancy phrasings that sometimes can strike you as being mannered, almost to the point of caricature, but he's an exciting and volatile and creatively stimulating and very communicative interpreter.
• 15:01
  And I think he makes the best possible case for an unabashedly effettuoso approach to these scores, so really check him out.
• 15:12
  By total contrast, Heinrich Alpers is a centrist. He, I guess, is sort of a Eugene Yoicham to Yuri Martinov's Wilhelm Mengelberg.
• 15:25
  Alpers is a solid and steady pianist, and he's really prepared these scores, he's prepared these performances to within an inch of his life.
• 15:36
  They're very scrupulous, and I really respect his high craft and serious musicianship.
• 15:42
  The only issue with me is that his version of the 9th uses vocal soloists and a chorus, and I find this problematic for the simple reason that as soon as the voices enter,
• 15:57
  the piano soloist immediately becomes an accompanist, and it really undermines the effect of how Liszt so effectively transforms the vocal lines into really great and cogent piano writing.
• 16:13
  And furthermore, in this recording, a rather reverberant ambience envelops the singers. In total contrast to the relatively dry piano sound, it almost sounds as if the singers and the pianist were recorded in separate venues.
• 16:31
  I mean, there's definitely some post-production monkeying around here.
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  By contrast, the 9th Symphony included in Giovanni Bellucci's complete Beethoven Liszt cycle features singers who are clearly in the same room,
• 16:48
  but the vocal soloists have a bad case of the wobbles and the chorus is just simply underpowered.
• 16:57
  I admire and respect Bellucci's protean energy and his extraversion, but his propensity for lurching rhythms and twitchy phrasings and exaggerated articulations and all kinds of fussy details always detract from the big picture, if you get what I mean.
• 17:19
  If those irritating speed-ups and slowdowns in the 1st Symphony's finale throw the music's momentum totally out of whack, you haven't reckoned with his seasick, inducing scherzo in the Eroica.
• 17:35
  I mean, try to tap your foot along with this performance, you just can't. But he plays the 8th Symphony finale amazingly well and with the most effortless technical aplomb.
• 17:49
  And that makes me wonder why Bellucci slogs through the 9th Symphony's first movement in a way that I guess makes late-period Clemperer or Giulini sound like Toscanini or George Selle.
• 18:04
  I mean, the performance just seemed endless to me. But then his scherzo and slow movement in the 9th are as normal and as direct as possible.
• 18:13
  So this is a baffling cycle and I am baffled because I have really admired this pianist's other recordings. Giovanni Bellucci, for instance, has some great Liszt and he made a very striking disc years ago that couples the Liszt-Busoni
• 18:33
  transcription of the Adnos ad salutarum undam transcription. That's an amazing transcription and it's a great performance.
• 18:43
  And also it's coupled with the Beethoven Hammerklavier Sonata, which also gets a very striking performance. And these came out on the Assai label, A-S-S-A-I.
• 18:57
  It's an impossible disc to find now in its physical form, but maybe it's available as a download. I really love this disc. I find it fascinating and I pull it down from my shelves every now and then.
• 19:11
  The only reason that I can't talk about Gabriele Bellucci's Beethoven Liszt cycle for the dynamic label is because it's simply in progress as of now, but he's well on his way to finishing it and I wager that it will be quite competitive when it's completed, judging from all the releases that have been out so far.
• 19:35
  However, if I had to pick just one Beethoven Liszt cycle performed by one pianist and astute collectors will realize that I have not mentioned him yet and you know where I'm going with this, right?
• 19:50
  There really is no contest when it comes to Cyprian Cutsaris. This is an amazing achievement. His pianism embodies the best qualities of everyone who I've mentioned in this talk in terms of audacity, in terms of virtuosity, of character and humor, along with a genuine fusion of pianistic fancy and orchestral scope.
• 20:19
  Now it is true that Cyprian Cutsaris fiddles around sometimes with Liszt's scoring. He will fill in textures or he'll move voices around or he will alter dynamics, he'll add octaves and all that kind of stuff.
• 20:35
  But this is all totally in the spirit of Liszt and maybe a little bit in the spirit of Beethoven. The premise of these interpretations I think are completely in the spirit of Beethoven meets Liszt or Liszt meets Beethoven aesthetically.
• 20:54
  You know, it's not like let's pretend that this is Beethoven's transcription and pretend that Liszt never existed. No, Cyprian Cutsaris understands that these scores, that these transcriptions really represent a meeting of minds between Liszt and Beethoven.
• 21:13
  And being a composer and transcriber himself, Cutsaris gets in his own two cents, as he should. I think he's respectful without being reverential or the least bit inhibited.
• 21:26
  And that is all to the good for both Beethoven and Liszt and to Cyprian Cutsaris as well. So my top recommendation for a Beethoven-Liszt symphony cycle with one pianist goes to Cyprian Cutsaris.
• 21:44
  Also, I should mention the piano duo of Tessa Uys, U-Y-S, again, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing her name correctly, and her piano partner is Ben Schumann, S-C-H-O-E-M-A-N.
• 22:04
  They have a piano duo and they've recorded all of the Beethoven symphonies in the arrangements for One Piano, Four Hands by Zaver Schvarvenka. And this is a terrific cycle. It's on the Sommel label.
• 22:20
  I've provided a link to their live concert performance of the Ninth Symphony that took place last year on the concert series that emanates from St. Mary's, Perryvale in East London.
• 22:34
  This is a wonderful concert series where all of the programs are live streamed in high definition, and they are archived on YouTube. Definitely check this out.
• 22:45
  And while I encourage all piano mavens to explore the Beethoven Liszt symphony transcriptions, we should not forget the orchestral originals from whence these transcriptions have sprung.
• 23:00
  And I will mention several orchestral cycles on disc that you might consider if you don't already know them. My historic favorite among the Beethoven cycles is the one with Carl Schuhrig conducting the Paris Conservatory Orchestra,
• 23:18
  because this was the orchestra created in 1828 who made Beethoven a specialty. And this represents a kind of authentic Beethoven tradition that continued pretty much steadily from 1828 up until the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• 23:38
  I also recommend the George Selle Cleveland Orchestra Beethoven cycle. And if you can ever find the Christoph von Dohnany Cleveland Orchestra cycle on Tellark, grab that. It's amazing.
• 23:53
  But for the best sound and interpretation that is available now in print, I would go for the Gunter Wand cycle with the NDR Orchestra. That is a wonderful Beethoven cycle that has really stood the test of time.
• 24:10
  This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening to the Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings. And tomorrow we bring this Beethoven miniseries month to an epic conclusion.
• 24:26
  So watch this space and again please consider subscribing. I look forward to being with you next time. Take care.