Franz Liszt (1811-86)

Started by Lethevich, September 28, 2008, 07:11:41 AM

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Moonfish

"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé

jlaurson

Latest on Forbes.com:
Classical CD Of The Week: Liszt Inspections

Liszt Inspections, Marino Formenti (piano), Kairos

A gentle small-scale giant of music who doesn't distinguish between "contemporary" and established, Marino Formenti has the preternatural ability to make any music sound weird.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenslaurson/2016/03/02/classical-cd-of-the-week-liszt-inspections-2/#2202ad6627f0

Artem

I've been listening almost on repeat Six Consolations, S172 from the following disk:

[asin]B004I7MCHU[/asin]

Does anybody like these pieces too? Are they considered less characteristic of Liszt's compositional style?

aligreto

For me The Liszt Tone Poems contain exciting, dramatic and illustrative music that is well written and well scored. The orchestral colour prevailing throughout these works makes for a wonderful listening experience. This all results in great picture painting with sound.

I have two complete sets; Masur and Haitink....





I also have a Naxos CD which contains four Tone Poems....





and another CD containing the Faust Symphony and one Tone Poem under Noseda whom I may investigate further after I get to listen to this recent purchase...






I have already ordered the van Immerseel/Anima Eterna CD which contains two Tone Poems....






So, focusing specifically on the Tone Poems, are there any other performances that I should be considering?



PerfectWagnerite

i think Solti's London Philharminic recordings especially of Les Preludes are essential. The playing is not refined but it suits this music well. Solti's expansive readings are rather unusual for him.

Scion7

Technically, they are not well-scored ... Liszt's orchestration is the sort of thing that would give geniuses like Brahms or Mahler nightmares   :D  ... but the tone poems are triumphs of musicianship/ideas over technical ability.

When, a few months before his death, Rachmaninov lamented that he no longer had the "strength and fire" to compose, friends reminded him of the Symphonic Dances, so charged with fire and strength. "Yes," he admitted. "I don't know how that happened. That was probably my last flicker."

aligreto

Quote from: PerfectWagnerite on July 30, 2016, 01:24:13 PM
i think Solti's London Philharminic recordings especially of Les Preludes are essential. The playing is not refined but it suits this music well. Solti's expansive readings are rather unusual for him.

Thank you for that; I will check those out soon  :)

aligreto

Quote from: Scion7 on July 31, 2016, 07:28:55 AM
Technically, they are not well-scored ... Liszt's orchestration is the sort of thing that would give geniuses like Brahms or Mahler nightmares   :D  ... but the tone poems are triumphs of musicianship/ideas over technical ability.



I like the scoring I must say although, as you say, not at the Mahler level. Thank you for the Muti recommendation  :)

snyprrr

I think I logged my collection here previously; but, I have a lot, and I want to listen to some Liszt in preparation for this Debussy PM Cycle to arrive...

Can you recommend me a few things please? I'm really not in the mood to listen to two discs worth of Hungarian Rh. (are there two you love?), and I just can't figure where to start, ProtoImpressionism??

or I might have to start with the Bagatelle w/o Tonality...??...


Florestan

#409
Quote from: snyprrr on March 24, 2018, 08:08:07 AM
I just can't figure where to start, ProtoImpressionism??

The usual suspects will do in this case: Au bord d'une source, Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, Nuages gris.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: snyprrr on March 24, 2018, 08:08:07 AM
Can you recommend me a few things please? I'm really not in the mood to listen to two discs worth of Hungarian Rh. (are there two you love?), and I just can't figure where to start, ProtoImpressionism??

What's wrong with the HRs? The "the famous one" may be overplayed, but on the whole they're startlingly worthwhile works. That said, try any of the late HRs. Late Liszt is like no other Liszt.

Quoteor I might have to start with the Bagatelle w/o Tonality...??...

Yep, great work. Go for it, or just go with Florestan's list.
Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Baron Scarpia

Quote from: aligreto on July 30, 2016, 08:31:34 AMSo, focusing specifically on the Tone Poems, are there any other performances that I should be considering?

As far as I'm concerned, if you have Haitink, you're done.  :)

Karl Henning

Quote from: Baron Scarpia on March 25, 2018, 09:50:47 PM
As far as I'm concerned, if you have Haitink, you're done.  :)

The case is strong  8)

Quote from: snyprrr on March 24, 2018, 08:08:07 AM
I think I logged my collection here previously; but, I have a lot, and I want to listen to some Liszt in preparation for this Debussy PM Cycle to arrive...

Can you recommend me a few things please?

Les cloches de Genève
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
Valses oubliées
Csárdás macabre
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

ritter

#413
I'd suggest the late stuff, if I may: La lugubre gondola I & II, Unstern! (Sinistre, disastro), RW Venezia, etc. And the little jewel that is In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi.

snyprrr

Quote from: ritter on March 26, 2018, 05:22:36 AM
I'd suggest the late stuff, if I may: La lugubre gondola I & II, Unstern! (Sinistre, disastro), RW Venezia, etc. And the little jewel that is In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi.
Quote from: Florestan on March 24, 2018, 08:45:11 AM
The usual suspects will do in this case: Au bord d'une source, Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, Nuages gris.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on March 26, 2018, 04:26:42 AM
The case is strong  8)

Les cloches de Genève
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
Valses oubliées
Csárdás macabre

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on March 24, 2018, 11:00:12 AM
What's wrong with the HRs? The "the famous one" may be overplayed, but on the whole they're startlingly worthwhile works. That said, try any of the late HRs. Late Liszt is like no other Liszt.

Yep, great work. Go for it, or just go with Florestan's list.

Thx, all good and meaty bits...

Nothing against the HRs, just so many of them!!


Debussy... Liszt... Satie... oy, I've painted myself into a corner!! If I start on Scriabin, SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! (or Grieg!!)

snyprrr

Quote from: ritter on March 26, 2018, 05:22:36 AM
I'd suggest the late stuff, if I may: La lugubre gondola I & II, Unstern! (Sinistre, disastro), RW Venezia, etc. And the little jewel that is In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi.
Quote from: Florestan on March 24, 2018, 08:45:11 AM
The usual suspects will do in this case: Au bord d'une source, Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, Nuages gris.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on March 26, 2018, 04:26:42 AM
The case is strong  8)

Les cloches de Genève
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
Valses oubliées
Csárdás macabre

Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on March 24, 2018, 11:00:12 AM
What's wrong with the HRs? The "the famous one" may be overplayed, but on the whole they're startlingly worthwhile works. That said, try any of the late HRs. Late Liszt is like no other Liszt.

Yep, great work. Go for it, or just go with Florestan's list.

Thx, all good and meaty bits...

Nothing against the HRs, just so many of them!!


Debussy... Liszt... Satie... oy, I've painted myself into a corner!! If I start on Scriabin, SOMEBODY STOP ME!!! (or Grieg!!)

snyprrr

So far, I've listened to


Nuagis Gris (Cohen/Naxos): I think I actually only HEARD 17%... is it supposed to be soooo quiet? Liszt likes those "evil" minor seconds, huh?

Klavierstuck?? "Nocturne" (Cohen/Naxos): French Composers=Nice, Liszt=Creepy... maybe it's the preponderance of minor seconds that I'm reacting against?

Bagatelle sans Tonalite (Katsarsis/Teldec): I think I like the piano playing more than the music-makes me want to hear Schoenberg

last Mephisto Waltz (Katsarsis): more of the same... Liszt seems to revel in the "big fingers",... the French not so much?



Yea, I'm not ready for the depressing Late Liszt right now,... will need some fountains and birds soon...


oh... and the Klangen, Sorben thing... more "evil" sounding heavy metal... I forgot how Rad Liszt was!! truly a Rock Star! However, apparently I'm in a more limp French mode at the moment... flasque...lol,,, flaccid...

aligreto

Quote from: Baron Scarpia on March 25, 2018, 09:50:47 PM
As far as I'm concerned, if you have Haitink, you're done.  :)

I have and enjoy the Haitink set so I am OK  8)



pjme

#418
Possibly this has been mentioned already on GMG, but during the weekend I read an article in Die Welt about the premiere of "Sardanapalo".

I hope to listen to the radiobroadcast.

Here is some info:

Liszt spent nearly seven years on an Italianate opera, Sardanapalo, based on Lord Byron's tragedy of 1821. Working intermittently on the project, he abandoned an incomplete continuous draft in 1852 shortly after conducting Wagner's Tannhäuser and Lohengrin in Weimar.
The surviving music constitutes the entirety of Act 1, given in various degrees of shorthand notation.
The style is a unique mixture of Italianate pastiche and mid-century harmonic innovation.

Source: https://www.davidtrippett.com/sardanapalus

https://www.welt.de/kultur/buehne-konzert/article181329434/Urauffuehrung-von-Sardanapalo-So-gut-ist-die-bisher-unbekannte-Oper-von-Franz-Liszt.html
"Audite aber hat jetzt dieses Liszt-Fragment für CD aufgezeichnet, Deutschlandradio sendet es am 8. September."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/17/sardanapalo-lost-liszt-opera-premiered

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEqRAdUEO2E&feature=youtu.be

P.



Maestro267

Listening to the huge Faust Symphony, and I find my mind tends to wander away from the music during the second movement, Gretchen. It's pleasant enough and makes for contrast, but at 23 minutes it goes on for a bit considering not an awful lot happens.