Liszt's Dante Sonata

Started by George, August 18, 2007, 12:59:13 PM

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George


Peregrine

He offered, but I declined.... :P
Yes, we have no bananas

George

Quote from: Peregrine on August 21, 2007, 07:52:53 AM
He offered, but I declined.... :P

;D

Do let us know how well you like his CD?

Peregrine

Will do, just listened to the B minor sonata. First impression - ponderous, detailed, delicate, sentimental, perhaps fussy. Felt it needed an injection of caffeine, but it is a first listen...

Purchased after you bumped this subject up and realised I had few Dante sonata's!
Yes, we have no bananas

sidoze

Quote from: George on August 21, 2007, 06:00:47 AM
I got the Live Arrau on Orfeo yesterday and the studio Barenboim.

After one listen, I find the Arrau to have many strengths, but the slowish tempo and the distant miking was a disappointment.

Haven't heard the Barenboim yet.

I don't remember what year Arrau's live performance is from, but you can bet it'll be slow and heavy if it comes after 1970 (and in many cases well before that too, as an interesting recording on Pre-War Recordings (Marston) shows clearly enough ). Arrau is one of the top choices though, for all Liszt in fact. Another one is Lazar Berman, obviously. I wouldn't touch a Barenboim CD for love or money.

Peregrine

Quote from: sidoze on August 21, 2007, 11:19:22 AM
Arrau is one of the top choices though, for all Liszt in fact. Another one is Lazar Berman, obviously. I wouldn't touch a Barenboim CD for love or money.

Yeah, Berman's ahead for me on this. The whole set is fabulous.
Yes, we have no bananas

carlos

As usually happens, Ferenz had 3 versions:
1) Paralipomenes á la Divina Commedia (1839), first
2) Prolegómenes á la Divina Commedia (1840) second, and
3) Aprés une lecture du Dante-Fantasia quasi Sonata, third and final
See Leslie Howard.
Piantale a la leche hermano, que eso arruina el corazón! (from a tango's letter)

George

Quote from: Peregrine on August 21, 2007, 08:05:17 AM
Purchased after you bumped this subject up and realised I had few Dante sonata's!

Would love to hear your thoughts on them.  :)

George

Quote from: sidoze on August 21, 2007, 11:19:22 AM
I don't remember what year Arrau's live performance is from, but you can bet it'll be slow and heavy if it comes after 1970 (and in many cases well before that too, as an interesting recording on Pre-War Recordings (Marston) shows clearly enough ). Arrau is one of the top choices though, for all Liszt in fact.

Yes, it's not that I thought he didn't have many strong points, it's just that I want to hear this work played with a sense of ugency, highlighting the demonic aspect.

Quote
Another one is Lazar Berman, obviously. I wouldn't touch a Barenboim CD for love or money.

Yes, Berman's set will come down the road. Believe it or not, Barenboim's impressed me more than anyone in the samples I heard. (I know you give little creedence to samples, but I think in this case much can be gleaned from the opening measures.) Anyway, I will report back when I have heard it.

George

Quote from: Peregrine on August 21, 2007, 08:05:17 AM
Will do, just listened to the B minor sonata. First impression - ponderous, detailed, delicate, sentimental, perhaps fussy. Felt it needed an injection of caffeine, but it is a first listen...

Yes, there's gotta be a middle ground between Arrau's expansiveness and Cziffra's pedal to the metal approach.

Mandryka

Towards the end of the final section of the B minor sonata there is a sequence of nine (I think) chords played rather quietly -- I think this is one of the most beautiful moments in music. The sonata also has a really exciting fugue, an huge intense ecstatic central passage. And the opening is indescribably creepy.

Everyone's played it. I say  Ernst Levy owns this sonata. Richter and Sofronitsky are pretty good too.

The other sonata -- Dante -- is another favourite of mine, mainly because the recording from Sofronitsky is so revealing. I'm not sure anyone else comes close -- Arrau? No. Pletnev? No. I used to think this was pretty crappy music until I heard Sofronitsky -- now I would take it to the desert island.

As you can tell, I'm rather looking forward to the Liszt celebrations next year.

Merry Christmas

Howard
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

rubio

Quote from: Mandryka on December 25, 2010, 09:56:37 AM
The other sonata -- Dante -- is another favourite of mine, mainly because the recording from Sofronitsky is so revealing.

In which CD do you find this recording?

And Merry Christmas ;D.
"One good thing about music, when it hits- you feel no pain" Bob Marley

Mandryka

#32
Quote from: rubio on December 25, 2010, 10:56:42 AM
In which CD do you find this recording?

And Merry Christmas ;D.

Here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOFRONITSKY-Mozart-Liszt-Chopin-Debussy-CD-RUS-NEW-/160509813431?pt=Music_CDs&hash=item255f2162b7#ht_1812wt_1140

Seriously deficient sound quality  :(

But it's on youtube so you can try it out there.

The discussion in this thread mentions a recording by Ervin Nyíregyházi, and sure enough it's on youtube too. But not AFAIR on his Music and Arts disc. I'll listen properly tomorrow.

Cziffra's Dante sonata is also recommended (not surprisingly) -- again I haven't heard that one either.

And Arkadi Volodos played it in Vienna.

By the way -- is it really true that Cziffra never recorded the B minor sonata? Why not?
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Dax

Quote from: Mandryka on December 25, 2010, 01:32:21 PM
By the way -- is it really true that Cziffra never recorded the B minor sonata?

No.

http://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Oeuvres-pour-Piano-Franz/dp/B00005IA06

(CD5) Or just google Cziffra Liszt sonata.

Mandryka

#34
Quote from: Dax on December 26, 2010, 02:16:51 AM
No.

http://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Oeuvres-pour-Piano-Franz/dp/B00005IA06

(CD5) Or just google Cziffra Liszt sonata.

Thanks.

Google's better than bing in this case. I'm using bing because I've had problems with google recently (the cursor jumps all over the place when I edit a query)

Bing didn't come up with any obvious CDs with the sonata -- at least not on the top of the list.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

snyprrr


snyprrr

Has anyone heard Andsnes?

Wanderer

Quote from: snyprrr on May 18, 2012, 09:23:19 PM
Has anyone heard Andsnes?

I have it and although I haven't listened to it in quite a while to comment specifics, I consider it being one of the better renditions out there.

A current big favourite of mine is the recent Chamayou; he seems to get everything right with very interesting interpretative insights, scintillating tone and dynamics and bravura to spare.

DieNacht

#38
Among those I´ve got

LP  - Rose/vox 73 svbx 5454
LP  - Berman/dg 4lp 2740 175
LP  - Farnadi/westm stereo 3lp wms 1023
cd  - Karolyi/ark mono 53-54-91 cdgi 908.1
cd  - Berman/brilliant 7cd 96003
LP  - Devoyon/erato 82 stu71433
LP  - Brendel/murray hill 5LP s4363
lp   - Yakov Zak/aprelon 2802-03 mono, very poor sound
HD - Nyiregyhazi/web
HD - Cziffra /emi

Devoyon (too undervalued IMO, possibly not even released digitally and coupled with a fine Piano Sonata and the 2 Lugubre Gondolas), Brendel/Vox and Cziffra are probably favourites. Karolyi is also good, but not that unusual and rare to obtain. Nyiregyhazi is, dare I say, ridiculous here IMO, and Farnadi plays too fast and routinely. As regards Berman, his Liszt is often less to my taste. It´s been a while since I heard Zak, but it has some surface noise.

Will give a couple a listen to check whether these views still hold; it is one of Liszt´s best works.

snyprrr

Quote from: DieNacht on May 19, 2012, 01:59:51 AM
Among those I´ve got

LP  - Rose/vox 73 svbx 5454
LP  - Berman/dg 4lp 2740 175
LP  - Farnadi/westm stereo 3lp wms 1023
cd  - Karolyi/ark mono 53-54-91 cdgi 908.1
cd  - Berman/brilliant 7cd 96003
LP  - Devoyon/erato 82 stu71433
LP  - Brendel/murray hill 5LP s4363
lp   - Yakov Zak/aprelon 2802-03 mono, very poor sound
HD - Nyiregyhazi/web
HD - Cziffra /emi

Devoyon (too undervalued IMO, possibly not even released digitally and coupled with a fine Piano Sonata and the 2 Lugubre Gondolas), Brendel/Vox and Cziffra are probably favourites. Karolyi is also good, but not that unusual and rare to obtain. Nyiregyhazi is, dare I say, ridiculous here IMO, and Farnadi plays too fast and routinely. As regards Berman, his Liszt is often less to my taste. It´s been a while since I heard Zak, but it has some surface noise.

Will give a couple a listen to check whether these views still hold; it is one of Liszt´s best works.

Surely Wild and all the other fire breathers are up too?