Vittorio Bresciani Liszt Schubert Song Transcriptions

I was amazed to discover this wonderful performance of Schubert's D.959, by a pianist who I usually consider a bad Schubertist (in the Impromptus and last sonata, for example). In this work, however, he seems to get the very essence of the music. I've listened to many good and bad recordings of the work, notably Uchida, Eschenbach, Bolet (good performances) as well as Serkin, Brendel (worse, to my taste) and many others. The only good rival of this performance is another surprise: the romantic Liszt expert Jorge Bolet (Decca, not released on CD). Perahia seems to understand Schubert magnificently in this sonata.

Richter was always a fan of Schubert's Piano music. He recorded over half of the Sonatas, the Wanderer Fantasie, some of the Impromptus and the Trout Piano Quintet to name a few works. Early in his career he would tear through impromptus, and play the Wander Fantasie with force and power. Fast forward much later at this point when these Sonatas were performed, and Richter was still playing some of the most difficult works in piano repertoire, such as Prokofiev Sonatas, Chopin Etudes and Liszt. In the case of these of composers its hard not to be inclined to be enjoy his earlier recordings more, but that is not the case here with Schubert.

Franz Liszt composed little chamber music, though the handful of pieces he wrote or arranged for violin and piano represent his enduring interest in that combination, from the Grand Duo concertant (1835/49) to La lugubre gondola (1882-83). This program by violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen offers those pieces and five more selections that demonstrate Liszt's fondness for passionate, long-breathed melodies in the Magyar vein and turbulent accompaniments that allowed for virtuosity. The standout track of this hybrid SACD is the arrangement of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 (ca. 1850), which gives a full treatment to those characteristics, and provides Wallin and Pöntinen their most dazzling displays. While the moods of the surrounding pieces are for the most part lyrical and subdued, the performances are compelling and the sound of the recording is close-up and focused, with the presence and clarity of a recital.

Many of Liszt’s works were transcribed for other instruments; both by the composer himself and other musicians. These hauntingly beautiful pieces for cello and piano were originally written for piano solo or the voice. They are from the final period of his life and are the product of his old age and his quest for spirituality. Far from the virtuoso brilliance of his earlier works, their intense and romantic melodies express melancholy and desolation, the sparse textures and harmonic instability daringly looking forward to the twentieth century.

Aimi Kobayashi, who rose to prominence as a prizewinner at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition, has been praised by Gramophone as a pianist who can “rivet the attention through fine-drawn line and hushed dynamics as much as through vivid gesture and brute force”.

Liszt’s sonata is regarded by many as his ultimate masterpiece and it ranks alongside other “greats” in the pantheon of piano repertoire. This was not always the case, however, and in the 19th century it was met with extreme reactions, from admiration to suspicion and envy. The critic Eduard Hanslick declared “Anyone who has heard this and finds it beautiful is beyond help”, while Wagner heaped praised upon it (perhaps unsurprisingly). Alfred Brendel has called it “the most original, powerful and intelligent sonata composed after Beethoven and Schubert”.

Of the great composers it was Schubert who devoted himself most seriously to the piano duet as an independent genre. He wrote more than 30 works for the medium, amongst which is some truly great music which is sadly under-represented in the catalogue.

Liszt will probably always be thought of as the greatest pianist who has ever lived, and his works for piano are undoubtedly among the most virtuosic to have been written. On this disc Daniel Barenboim explores the vast emotional range of Liszt’s piano music, from the most delicate chiaroscuro through to the most ominously dramatic climax. Années de pèlerinage recorded at the Neues Schloss Bayreuth, 1985; Piano Sonata in B minor recorded at the Haus Wahnfried, Bayreuth, 1985; Wagner and Verdi Transcriptions recorded at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth, 1985.

Liszt will probably always be thought of as the greatest pianist who has ever lived, and his works for piano are undoubtedly among the most virtuosic to have been written. On this disc Daniel Barenboim explores the vast emotional range of Liszt’s piano music, from the most delicate chiaroscuro through to the most ominously dramatic climax. Années de pèlerinage recorded at the Neues Schloss Bayreuth, 1985; Piano Sonata in B minor recorded at the Haus Wahnfried, Bayreuth, 1985; Wagner and Verdi Transcriptions recorded at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth, 1985.