Liszt - 12 Etudes D'Execution Transcendante [Kultyshev]
This is the first time i've listened to this disc, and unlike say the Chopin or Rachmaninov Etudes, Liszt's are harder to crack, over the last few years i've tried to dig deeper into Liszt, i've made an extra effort to buy some piano recitals of his, i think it's slowly paying off, but there's still this feeling that he's an acrobat on the high wire showing off with his virtuoso prowess, is there real musicology there too?, the Chopin Etudes are difficult and beautiful, Liszt's are just difficult!, but i keep chipping away to find the gem beneath.
Miroslav Kultyshev is Russian, he's 30 this year, he's just released a disc of the 24 Etudes by Chopin, i really would like to get that also, the front booklet cover shows Kultyshev in a thoughtful pose at the piano [by Oleg Zotov], nice and sharp, lettering and logo well placed, i really like the cover.
The two Etudes that really impressed me under Kultyshev's hands were 10 & 11, i love Harmonies Du Soir [No 11], it's easily my favourite, and maybe second best is Mazeppa [No 4], so it was surprising how good i felt about No10, referred to as Allegro Agitato Molto, and i'd like to talk about this one here,
10 Allegro Agitato Molto [4:25] - Straight away i noticed the twitchy nature of this Etude, it's really troubled in many ways, restless and demonic, fairly conventional and restrained at first, trill runs down the keyboard in the right hand, but quickly these become so much more agitated [0:18+], there's lots of individual solo high treble notes played quite loud, as if the right hand is on nitrogen [1:11+], plus Liszt uses the other extreme of the keyboard for some deep bass notes too [1:47+], i guess one of Liszts signatures, using the whole of the keyboard, in the central section there may be a degree of normality, but the demonicness soon returns, there's a moment where Liszt uses high treble notes rung out like some sort of morse code message [2:47-2:59], but it's those treble trill runs that make the whole piece happen, i love the way that Kultyshev plays this piece, he brings out the schizophrenic nature of the whole thing.
Here's Kultyshev playing Etude 10 on YouTube, wow those eyes! haha.
Miroslav Kultyshev is Russian, he's 30 this year, he's just released a disc of the 24 Etudes by Chopin, i really would like to get that also, the front booklet cover shows Kultyshev in a thoughtful pose at the piano [by Oleg Zotov], nice and sharp, lettering and logo well placed, i really like the cover.
The two Etudes that really impressed me under Kultyshev's hands were 10 & 11, i love Harmonies Du Soir [No 11], it's easily my favourite, and maybe second best is Mazeppa [No 4], so it was surprising how good i felt about No10, referred to as Allegro Agitato Molto, and i'd like to talk about this one here,
10 Allegro Agitato Molto [4:25] - Straight away i noticed the twitchy nature of this Etude, it's really troubled in many ways, restless and demonic, fairly conventional and restrained at first, trill runs down the keyboard in the right hand, but quickly these become so much more agitated [0:18+], there's lots of individual solo high treble notes played quite loud, as if the right hand is on nitrogen [1:11+], plus Liszt uses the other extreme of the keyboard for some deep bass notes too [1:47+], i guess one of Liszts signatures, using the whole of the keyboard, in the central section there may be a degree of normality, but the demonicness soon returns, there's a moment where Liszt uses high treble notes rung out like some sort of morse code message [2:47-2:59], but it's those treble trill runs that make the whole piece happen, i love the way that Kultyshev plays this piece, he brings out the schizophrenic nature of the whole thing.
Here's Kultyshev playing Etude 10 on YouTube, wow those eyes! haha.
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