Liszt Rhapsodies

Although Hungarian by birth, it was only later in his career that Franz Liszt came to be regarded as a Hungarian national hero. His fifteen Hungarian Rhapsodies, piano pieces in Hungarian gypsy style, won wide popularity, and six of these were later orchestrated, with the help of flautist and conductor Franz Doppler, to whom Liszt himself gave full credit for the work. The six orchestrations are, themselves, lively instrumental pieces, performed on this recording by Antal Doráti & London Symphony Orchestra.

Recommended without reservation.

Les danses hongroises n°5 et 6 de Brahms (respectivement captées en 1967 et 1966) mettent d'entrée de jeu l'auditeur au parfum : c'est à une démonstration de dynamisme et de lyrisme que le grand chef américain nous convie. Ces danses de Brahms se hissent parmi les meilleures, et ne font poindre qu'un seul regret : qu'il n'y en ait que deux !
Les Préludes de Liszt (1963) nous rappellent alors quelles formidables affinités Bernstein trouvait dans l'univers lisztien (il faut connaitre absolument sa fantastique Faust-Symphonie ).

"Kurt Masur has made some excellent recordings of Liszt's orchestral works where the music has been nobly served by his balanced approach. His performances have been characterized by an underlying warmth and romance, and he has shown real passion where it is appropriate, of a kind where there is no spilling over into the rhetorical posturing which can sometimes bedevil performances of this composer's music. Those admirable qualities are again apparent in this latest record." (Gramophone)

In celebration of the Liszt year 2011, multi-award winning pianist Nelson Freire has personally selected the repertoire for his latest recording - his contribution to the anniversary of the pianist-composer's birth in 1811. The very personal selection includes Liszt showpieces such as the Harmonies du soir (12 ètudes d'exécution transcendante), the Hungarian Rhapsodies and Liebestrëume.