Franz Liszt - A Critical Discography

[San Antone]

Sanantonio, what do you think of Nelson Freire's performance of the B minor? I didn't see him - sob - in your listing of Olympian rings for that work!

I haven't heard it, but need to check Apple Music - I am assuming he does an admirable job, and gets a good review in Fanfare.  I would like to find it outside of purchasing his big box.  Thanks for the reminder.

[Karl Henning]

As an aside: you are doing a great work starting and taking care of this thread, sanantonio.

+ 1

[San Antone]

Thanks Gordo and Karl - it has taken on a Moby Dick aspect, but I am enjoying the process immensely nonetheless.

[Karl Henning]

Well, and I am a great fan of Moby-Dick!

[San Antone]

Michael Korstick (2009)
CPO - 7774782
Tremendous swagger and élan carry one through this banefully familiar soundscape with flash and sizzle aplenty, deftly projected in radiant color, with a multi-voiced eloquence making all new, welcoming, refreshing. One would have to go back to Polina Leschenko's phenomenal performance for comparable alchemy. Ambience is detectable in quieter passages, leaving distance for Korstick's fullness at climactic moments. Enthusiastically recommended! (Adrian Corleonis, Fanfare)

I am immediately struck during the Lento assai (not with the descending scales so much as with the jagged theme that follows) of a rushed quality and then during the Grandioso section extreme dynamic fluctuations.  There is some very nice playing in the first Cantando espressivo section, especially in how Korstick handles the trills - but the rushed sensation persists, however, I sense that he is getting better as he goes along.  Then the rushed quality emerges again in the Quasi adagio, which is the worst possible section to rush.  And it only gets worse from there: the fugue and following sections have a tense franticness that does not well serve the music.  After a refreshingly well done second Cantando section the Stretta quasi Presto is just over the top. 

He brings it back down for the final page, but this was not a performance I thought was very good, contrary to Adrian Corleonis.

[kishnevi]

I haven't heard it, but need to check Apple Music - I am assuming he does an admirable job, and gets a good review in Fanfare.  I would like to find it outside of purchasing his big box.  Thanks for the reminder.

Youtube has a 1982 performance
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZ9cswKfi0

The Sony Friere box is not really big, and has enough goodness to be worth purchasing.  The Sonata recording in that box is from 1972.

[San Antone]

Youtube has a 1982 performance
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZ9cswKfi0

The Sony Friere box is not really big, and has enough goodness to be worth purchasing.  The Sonata recording in that box is from 1972.

Thanks for the YT clip - I will add it to my playlist of B minors.  You're right about the box, after checking Amazon I realized that I had Wish-listed his Columbia collection, which is going for just over $25 - so, into the cart it goes.  That 1972 performance in it is the one I will cover since it has already gotten some critical attention.

[San Antone]

Paul Lewis (2004)
Harmonia Mundi 2908456
The poetry and grandeur of his playing put Paul Lewis's Liszt among the greats. Eschewing all obvious display, he concentrates on the Sonata's monumental weight, grandeur and ever-elusive inner poetry. His sense of drama is dark and intense and his reading of the central Andante sostenuto alone puts his performance in the highest league. Lewis's octaves in the final Prestissimo blaze before the retrospective coda are of a pulverising strength; with him the Sonata regains its stature among music's most formidable milestones.  (Gramophone)

Right from the start, this Paul Lewis recording promises plenty with his ominous descending octaves, but he seems to have some trouble getting settled during first section which finds him sounding a bit distracted.  However, arriving at the Grandioso theme he performs it with grandeur and nobility perfectly suited to the music.  Aside from some crashing chords that are out of proportion to his dynamics for the passages that lead up to them, his handling of the section prior to the pesante-recitativo is nicely done although a similar over-big effect was created with those chords.  The Andante sostenuto and Quasi adagio sections were played with an smoldering intensity and from the fughetto through to the final measures Lewis's account is hardly bested by anyone.  Harmoni Mundi provides him with excellent sound resulting in some very fine Liszt.

[San Antone]

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (2011)
DG - 4779439
While the Liszt Sonata's rapid figurations benefit from the heightened clarity of Aimard's nimble left hand, his literal minded interpretation lacks the bravura, dynamism, and dramatic sweep that pianists so disparate as Arrau, Argerich, Richter, and Hamelin bring to the score. You particularly notice this via Aimard's dry treatment of the notoriously difficult octave sections and the lack of melodic animation in lyrical parts. (Classics Today)

That assessment is entirely fair, I believe.  Aimard does a good job with this work, granted he does hold back in places where one would like to hear more abandon.  And a couple of the bigger moments are sacrificed to his desire to present a more restrained account.  This will not be a performance that dedicated Lisztians would prefer, but overall I think this is a very worthwhile interpretation.  The sections which prove the most problematic, from the standpoint of the tradition of Liszt performance, are the more virtuosic, bravura, sections, e.g. Stretta quasi Presto.  These he purposely plays without the kind of electric passion a Richter brings to the music.  But those more contemplative and poetic sections, like the Quasi adagio, he plays with crystalline delicacy, almost as if this were Ravel.

Taking into account his theme of pairing specific Liszt works with the 20th century composers, Berg, Bartok and Prokofiev, the larger concept succeeds and might be a path to get some people to listen to Liszt who may otherwise feel that he is a composer they should avoid.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Hope it's okay to interrupt. Just couldn't resist after listening again after a long while to this stunning Ogdon recital disc from various dates & places. All studio. All well recorded from 1961-68. (Should've mentioned it earlier).

Ogdon clearly knows what he wants, and he gets it. He transforms Funérailles into a granitic beast with no eyes which lives - at least during the music - in the recessed corners of my house. I kept looking for places to dart off to the moment the beast lunged, making sure to guard my bum in case it needed a snack. Although definitely that's what made the listening so much fun. Would do it again anytime.

Unfortunately this is the one track that suffers a bit from "shattering" in the loud passages, a consequence of putting the mikes too close, no doubt in an effort capture the quiet stretches. In that though the sound succeeds wonderfully.

The high-wire works make a solid impression, too. No thrill is undersold. Flair I think is the word, along with a super-charged imagination. Just what Liszt needs. 




[asin]B0000067UK[/asin]

[San Antone]

Hope it's okay to interrupt. Just couldn't resist after listening again after a long while to this stunning Ogdon recital disc from various dates & places. All studio. All well recorded from 1961-68. (Should've mentioned it earlier).

Ogdon knows what he wants and he gets it. He transforms Funérailles into a granitic beast with no eyes which lives in the shadows. I kept looking for places to dart off to the moment the beast appeared, making sure to guard my bum in case it needed a snack. Although definitely that's what made the listen so much fun. Would do it again anytime.

Unfortunately this is the one track that suffers a bit from "shattering" in the loud passages, a consequence of putting the mikes too close, no doubt in an effort capture the quiet stretches. In that though the sound succeeds wonderfully.

The high-wire works make a solid impression, too. No thrill is undersold. Flair I think is the word, along with a super-charged imagination. Just what Liszt needs. 




[asin]B0000067UK[/asin]

Many thanks for this - I need to get some Ogdon recordings, I don't own any, and have heard only a smattering via streaming, the B minor in a couple of concert settings, but not much else.  Please don't feel like you are interrupting!  I more than welcome others to review Liszt recordings and wish more would do so.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Please don't feel like you are interrupting! 

Ah, cool, in that case...

I also listened to some Liszt by Richter today: the non-sonata recordings from the Philips "Authorized" set (the third disc). I wish I had happier news to report, though.

Here's a cut and paste of the tracks:


1. Polonaise No. 2 In E, S. 223 No. 2
2. Scherzo In G Minor, S. 153
3. Trube Wolken, S. 199
4. Consolatioin, S. 172 No. 6
5. Hungarian Rhapsody, S. 242 No. 17
6. Klavierstuck In F Sharp, S. 193
7. Mephisto Polka, S. 217
8. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 1 Prelude. Presto
9. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 2 Molto vivace
10. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 3 Paysage. Pcoc adagio
11. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 5 Feux follets. Allegretto
12. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 7 Eroica. Allegro
13. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 8 Wilde Jagd - Chasse sauvage - Presto furioso
14. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 11 Harmonies du soir. Andantino
15. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 10 Allegro agitato molto
16. 3 Etudes de concert, S. 144: No. 3 Un sospiro
17. 2 Etudes de concert, S. 145: No. 2 Gnomenreigen - Ronde des lutins


Tracks 1-15 are from a March 10, 1988 concert in Cologne. Tracks 16 & 17 are from four days earlier in Rosenheim. I wish it had been the Rosenheim concert that had been recorded in total and not the Cologne. The thee tracks in bold are the tracks which are right on the money as far as being successful performances. In fact, they're absolutely crackling and very much worth hearing/preserving.

Unfortunately the rest of the disc - almost the entirety of the Cologne concert - at least for this listen, fizzles. This is known to happen to Richter while on tour. One recital he's "on" and another he's...stumbling. It probably doesn't help that the sound for the Cologne concert isn't as clear as the Rosenheim concert, but that certainly doesn't stop the Mephisto Polka from being an absolute romp! Dynamite for sure. It could be that this piece was an encore, though, as Richter is also known for shoring up a weak concert with liberal doses of encores. Whatever the case, it succeeds.

The two pieces from the Rosenheim concert nearly vault this entire volume into "mandatory purchase" status all by their little lonesomes. They are that good. Everything that Richter is known for is 100% present, here, and when he's "feeling it" - as he clearly is here - it's always a unique experience.

[San Antone]

Thomas Hitzlberger (2009)
Ambronay 008
Thomas Hitzlberger, ... plays his programme on Liszt's own 1873 Steingraber instrument.

His performances, too, are of an exceptional breadth and seriousness. He is very much at the heart of the ever-elusive B minor Sonata. A true rather than flamboyant Lisztian, he would surely be among the first to salute Jorge Bolet's dictum that "speed is the enemy of excitement". All these performances are deeply committed and finely recorded.  (Gramophone)

Fussy and episodic, in places Hiltzlberger played so haltingly the music almost had no forward propulsion.  It takes more than performing on a period instrument in order to imbue a performance with meaning.  Jorge Bolet he's not.

[San Antone]

Ah, cool, in that case...

I also listened to some Liszt by Richter today: the non-sonata recordings from the Philips "Authorized" set (the third disc). I wish I had happier news to report, though.

Here's a cut and paste of the tracks:


1. Polonaise No. 2 In E, S. 223 No. 2
2. Scherzo In G Minor, S. 153
3. Trube Wolken, S. 199
4. Consolatioin, S. 172 No. 6
5. Hungarian Rhapsody, S. 242 No. 17
6. Klavierstuck In F Sharp, S. 193
7. Mephisto Polka, S. 217
8. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 1 Prelude. Presto
9. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 2 Molto vivace
10. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 3 Paysage. Pcoc adagio
11. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 5 Feux follets. Allegretto
12. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 7 Eroica. Allegro
13. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 8 Wilde Jagd - Chasse sauvage - Presto furioso
14. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 11 Harmonies du soir. Andantino
15. Etudes d'execution transcendante, S. 139: No. 10 Allegro agitato molto
16. 3 Etudes de concert, S. 144: No. 3 Un sospiro
17. 2 Etudes de concert, S. 145: No. 2 Gnomenreigen - Ronde des lutins


Tracks 1-15 are from a March 10, 1988 concert in Cologne. Tracks 16 & 17 are from four days earlier in Rosenheim. I wish it had been the Rosenheim concert that had been recorded in total and not the Cologne. The thee tracks in bold are the tracks which are right on the money as far as being successful performances. In fact, they're absolutely crackling and very much worth hearing/preserving.

Unfortunately the rest of the disc - almost the entirety of the Cologne concert - at least for this listen, fizzles. This is known to happen to Richter while on tour. One recital he's "on" and another he's...stumbling. It probably doesn't help that the sound for the Cologne concert isn't as clear as the Rosenheim concert, but that certainly doesn't stop the Mephisto Polka from being an absolute romp! Dynamite for sure. It could be that this piece was an encore, though, as Richter is also known for shoring up a weak concert with liberal doses of encores. Whatever the case, it succeeds.

The two pieces from the Rosenheim concert nearly vault this entire volume into "mandatory purchase" status all by their little lonesomes. They are that good. Everything that Richter is known for is 100% present, here, and when he's "feeling it" - as he clearly is here - it's always a unique experience.

1988 seems fairly late in his career?   I have this set so will listen down the road once I'm finished with the B Minor Sonatathon.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

1988 seems fairly late in his career?   I have this set so will listen down the road once I'm finished with the B Minor Sonatathon.

Yes, it's quite late. So I try not to fall into the "it's not the Crusher Richter of Younger Years" trap. He's more contemplative at this stage of his career - while still maintaining a certain level of "Richter Intensity". But during this stage sonic considerations seem to carry more weight, for me, anyway, and the better recorded the piece the better it seems to come off.

For instance, there's a Beethoven Op.110 in the Philips (now Decca) set from 1991. It's good, but compared to his 1992 performance of the same work (on Live Classics), it pales. But the difference seems to be, as far as I can tell, not so much a sleepier Richter in 1991 as it is a much better RECORDED Richter in 1992. I love that 1992 Op.110. It's contemplative, yes, but thanks to the wide, crystal clear sound it comes off as much much deeper in conception (in fact, the sound on the Live Classics is the best I've ever heard for Richter. It's gorgeous!).

That may be what's happening with the Liszt, here. To test my theory I decided to spot check two works from the Philips/Decca (Hungarian Rhapsody no.17 and Consolation no.6) which happen to be contemporaneous with another release from a different concert on RCA. Here again the sound is MUCH better on the RCA and the both works are far more engaging than on the Philips/Decca.

So this could factor in to my perceptions. Or it could also be that his Liszt really is sleepier on Philips/Decca. Dunno...

BTW, the Liszt on this RCA disc is primo all the way.

[San Antone]

Yes, it's quite late. So I try not to fall into the "it's not the Crusher Richter of Younger Years" trap. He's more contemplative at this stage of his career - while still maintaining a certain level of "Richter Intensity". But during this stage sonic considerations seem to carry more weight, for me, anyway, and the better recorded the piece the better it seems to come off.

For instance, there's a Beethoven Op.110 in the Philips (now Decca) set from 1991. It's good, but compared to his 1992 performance of the same work (on Live Classics), it pales. But the difference seems to be, as far as I can tell, not so much a sleepier Richter in 1991 as it is a much better RECORDED Richter in 1992. I love that 1992 Op.110. It's contemplative, yes, but thanks to the wide, crystal clear sound it comes off as much much deeper in conception (in fact, the sound here is the best I've ever heard for Richter. It's gorgeous!).

That may be what's happening with the Liszt, here. To test my theory I decided to spot check two works from the Philips/Decca (Hungarian Rhapsody no.17 and Consolation no.6) which happen to be contemporaneous with another release from a different concert on RCA. Here again the sound is MUCH better on the RCA and the both works are far more engaging than on the Philips/Decca.

So this could factor in to my perceptions. Or it could also be that his Liszt really is sleepier on Philips/Decca. Dunno...

BTW, the Liszt on this RCA disc is primo all the way.

I agree completely that recorded quality makes a difference in my appreciation of the performance.  And it is hard to evaluate a performance from earlier periods once you are used to modern recordings.  So, in my rating system I am computing two scores, one based only on the performance and the other adding in my subjective rating of the recording.  Richter's performance rates very high but once the recording quality is factored in his falls precipitously in the ranking. 

As far as I can tell Richter dropped the Liszt B Minor from his repertory after 1966 - and never recorded it under studio conditions.  A huge loss.

[Todd]

And it is hard to evaluate a performance from earlier periods once you are used to modern recordings.

Not really.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

I agree completely that recorded quality makes a difference in my appreciation of the performance.  And it is hard to evaluate a performance from earlier periods once you are used to modern recordings.  So, in my rating system I am computing two scores, one based only on the performance and the other adding in my subjective rating of the recording.  Richter's performance rates very high but once the recording quality is factored in his falls precipitously in the ranking.

Yes, this is very subjective, no question.

Certainly recorded sound isn't always the perfect conduit for what's being banged out at the keyboard. It can ruin a great performance or on the flip side perhaps enhance a poor one (some of those pirates are notorious for "inflating" the sound to maximize the effects).   

But I'm not the final arbiter in this, obviously (not with Todd lurking, anyway! )

[Mandryka]

Yes, it's quite late. So I try not to fall into the "it's not the Crusher Richter of Younger Years" trap. He's more contemplative at this stage of his career - while still maintaining a certain level of "Richter Intensity". But during this stage sonic considerations seem to carry more weight, for me, anyway, and the better recorded the piece the better it seems to come off.

For instance, there's a Beethoven Op.110 in the Philips (now Decca) set from 1991. It's good, but compared to his 1992 performance of the same work (on Live Classics), it pales. But the difference seems to be, as far as I can tell, not so much a sleepier Richter in 1991 as it is a much better RECORDED Richter in 1992. I love that 1992 Op.110. It's contemplative, yes, but thanks to the wide, crystal clear sound it comes off as much much deeper in conception (in fact, the sound on the Live Classics is the best I've ever heard for Richter. It's gorgeous!).

That may be what's happening with the Liszt, here. To test my theory I decided to spot check two works from the Philips/Decca (Hungarian Rhapsody no.17 and Consolation no.6) which happen to be contemporaneous with another release from a different concert on RCA. Here again the sound is MUCH better on the RCA and the both works are far more engaging than on the Philips/Decca.

So this could factor in to my perceptions. Or it could also be that his Liszt really is sleepier on Philips/Decca. Dunno...

BTW, the Liszt on this RCA disc is primo all the way.

Thanks for those positive comments about the Beethoven on Live Classics, which I've just ordered -- I'm interested in Richter's music making from the last 10 years or so of his life. It's a long time since I listened to that CD with the Brahms sonata, I remember being disappointed by the Brahms (I've learned early Brahms is just not for me) and not very interested in the music by Liszt there. But I do remember that Harmonies du Soir was exceptionally intense. It used to be one of the recordings I played the most often. It's a very good example of a side of Richter's art.

Re the Ogdon discussed above, he was very variable but sometimes his recitals were extrarordinary. The Liszt recording that is completely astonishing for its virtuosity and sheer elan,  is a concert from Japan, publishe about four years ago now, in the Liszt year. It's one of the few things which have helped me see why some people really rate him.

Re sound and performance, I've learned from experience not to make any sort of judgement about baroque music and recent music until I hear it through my good hifi. On the bad system you can't judge what's going on with the voicing. For 19th century piano music I don't know.

[San Antone]

Shura Cherkassky (1985)
Nimbus NI 7701
Originally taped in 1985, these ripe performances—differently coupled—were hailed with some ambivalence in Fanfare 10:4. Writing of the Chopin, Howard Kornblum cited a lack of "power, continuity, and passion"—but he was, in the end, seduced by the sheer beauty of Cherkassky's tone production, "as close as we'll hear these days to the kind of sound pianists of 60 to 70 years ago were famous for. " I found a similar medley of virtues and vices in the Liszt, but weighed them differently, concluding that Cherkassky's haphazard interpretive decisions, not to mention his frequent technical debilities, ultimately soured the positive impressions created by his often ravishing caress of certain details, especially details of texture. Returning seven years later, I can't say that things seem much different: it's easy to get caught up in the succulence of the second theme of the Chopin sonata's first movement—but only until the pedantic circumspection of the Scherzo shatters the reverie. And in his Liszt, the improvisatory snuggles up to the inattentive with such persistence that you're tempted to call for an artistic chaperone. (Fanfare)

This Nimbus release is a very toned-down account; sleepy almost.  Still, it is a performance that is not without its charm.  Utterly unique among so many performances which attempt to play the piece with as much drama as possible.  While it is not a recording I will come back to often, still it is one that I will remember fondly.  He's recorded the Liszt sonata before, and I would like to hear something from his earlier days to see if he was capable of playing this work with some fire.