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.

Liszt - Piano Recital [Mardirossian]

This is one of a number of discs i bought from Amazon fairly recently, i tapped in 'Liszt', and a preference of 'price low to high', and it's amazing what turns up for a really cheap price, Liszt is a Composer that i've had a hard time with, he can have a tendency to be flashy and overblown, his compositions filled with virtuoso piano playing, and maybe the pure poetry and lyricism is missing, but i'm warming to him, and discs like this really help me, this disc appeared in my Blog three years ago [31 July 2012].

Vahan Mardirossian is Armenian, he's now 39, and surprisingly he recorded this disc back in 2007, the front cover photography [by Karim Ramzi], is a close cropped full face portrait, shadows in the eyes, hands in front in a praying position, the lettering nicely balanced in the corners, very well done, and the back inlay is very clear, i like the way the lettering is both sides of the white bar on the right, plus red numerals for the timings also helps.

So again for this second Blog entry of this disc, it was the Liszt / Schubert Standchen i liked the most, its' a beautiful composition that stands up well without the words, it's a beautiful melody, the right hand treble is vocal line, left hand bass the piano line, plus there's a vocal 'echo' by the piano [0:24+ & 0:39+], works really well, in the second stanza [1:46+], the vocal line is in the bass, while the piano 'echo' is now in the treble [1:57+ & 2:12+], and behind it all is the constant rolling of the bass notes, and then Schubert uses a more complex variation [3:19-4:14], where lovely echoes are made in the treble, it's the best little section of the whole piece, it's so good to hear this piece again today.

Here's Alesia Arnatovich playing Standchen on YouTube.

Liszt - Piano Music [Ulyanova-Caldine] 

The music of Liszt is slowly playing a bigger part of my life, it was only a few days ago that i was extolling another Liszt recital, unlike Schubert and Chopin [two piano greats] who i straight away fell right into, Liszt is someone who didn't shine immediately, in fact he's still very much an outsider, it's only in the last year or two that there's been a real thaw in my heart for him, this disc is typical of what i guess i had against him, lots of showy notes of real bravura, but Liszt lets the side down with all froth and no drink, but just lately i'm beginning to can see through all that flash, and there is a heart there, it's just harder to see, the bravura is the poetry, the froth is a drink!, i played this disc in my Blog at the end of 2010 [6th November 2010].

Elena Ulyanova-Caldine is Ukrainian / Crimean, not sure of her age, she recorded this disc in 2006, the front cover is fantastic [photo by Walter Merriam], showing Ulyanova-Caldine in front of her piano, i love the slanted lines in the background, looking down on the piano keys, the pose is great, nice smiling face, lovely red dress and a shiny necklace, and the lettering over the dark areas of the piano, a really great visual product.

Like i said above, Ulyanova-Caldine seems to have chosen six pieces that show off the virtuosity / bravura of Liszt, there's lots of notes in there, the piece i loved the most was 'Harmonies Du Soir', it's Etude 11 from his 12 Transcendental Etudes, Ulyanova-Caldine takes a long time over it [over 10 minutes], but there's poetry there, she gets the odd treble bell ringers just right [1:24+], the treble notes caught very well by the recording, the cascades of notes that make up the main tune are just scintillating [2:15-2:40], the highlight of the whole piece, the new tune that Liszt creates is very welcome [4:36+], giving another layer / dimension to the work, again Ulyanova-Caldine gets those treble notes to sing, the forte passages are done well [5:52+], and just after, the hammered out chords with the chiming trebles are thrilling [6:31-7:35], in retrospect i like the way she builds up the whole piece very gradually, both in speeds and volume, it's like a roller-coaster that thrills the more it goes on, the ending is fairly subdued.

Here's Boris Berezovsky playing Harmonies Du Soir on YouTube, watch him sweat!.

Liszt - Piano Music [Mardirossian] 

Liszt is a Composer that i have consciously tried to delve deeper into in the last year, at certain turns he has surprised me, Harmonies Du Soir and Un Sospiro have got a grip on my heart in the last year or so, so i'm wondering what other beautiful card Liszt's got up his sleeve that i haven't seen yet when he plays his tricks, i bought this disc from Ebay a short time ago, it wasn't cheap, but i got it for a good price, it's great in the sense that it fills gaps in my Liszt discography nicely, and who knows, maybe another piece to truly fall in love with.

Vahan Mardirossian is Armenian, born in 1975, he's now 37, he recorded this disc in 2007, the visual presentation is great, which includes the inner photos, the photo on the disc itself, and on the inside of the back insert, but i just love the front booklet cover [photo by Karim Rimzi], a nice tight face mugshot, hands placed in front of the nose to give emphasis, hairline showing, but top of the head cut off, i love the lettering in the two opposite corners, the whole thing really works for me.

Well this was a learning experience, believe it or not, even with a personal discography of roughly 1650 discs, and 25 years listening experience, this is the first time i've listened to Liszt's Piano Sonata!, and it certainly needs some more listening!, on this recital Mardirossian includes 4 pieces that are transcriptions from other Composers, these are all vocal works, where Liszt has to transcribe the human worded voice into pure piano sounds, and even though i guess they're not wholly Liszt's creations, it still takes great invention to turn something into pure piano sounds, consider his superb transcriptions of the Beethoven Symphonies, it was the last piece i was really wowed with, Standchen works so well without the singer!, Liszt spins it as if was always meant to be purely a piano solo, and Schubert is the one that transcribed it as a song!, and now i remember it on a Joshua Bell disc [21st February 2010], with its other name Serenade, the song is of a Serenader at his Lady's window in the moonlight, singing of love, the original song has five stanzas, but i believe Liszt only uses three here, here are the timings for the work,

A - 0:00-1:45

B - 1:46-3:18

C - 3:19-4:50

D - 4:51-5:55

A-C are the first three stanzas / variations, and D is the coda / finale, after a short prelude the treble in the right hand comes in [0:12+], and it's a gorgeous tune, the main tune and the accompaniment take it in turns to 'sing' the first stanza [0:00-1:45], it's simple and just so beautiful, in the second stanza there's a lower part for the 'voice', and higher for the accompaniment [1:46-3:18], it's a nice variation, the real magic is in the third stanza, it's high in the treble, and there's an immediate echo from the voice, just slightly higher in the treble [3:19-4:50], it's so magical and chimerical, it's the highlight of the piece, there's an angry middle part, but it soon turns to the beginning, then comes some sort of coda to close the whole thing down [4:51-5:55], it's a glorious piece of music.

Here's Dora Deliyska playing the transcription of Schubert's Standchen on YouTube.

Various Composers - 'Liebestraume' Piano Music [Spanswick]

Here's a disc i picked up on Ebay recently, from a Pianist i've never heard before, it contains 21 short piano pieces, with over 70 minutes of music, mainly of famous pieces, i like these compilations, they really serve a purpose, it comprises 14 Composers, i must admit too much Chopin Waltzes, and no Schubert?, but still a good mix, she isn't a truly top class Pianist, too heavy in the left hand [or is it the recording?], a bit clumsy with ideas, not enough nuance in her playing, but serviceable and enjoyable just the same.

Melanie Spanswick is English i think, there's a dearth of information on her, she recorded this recital in 2002, initially it was the front booklet cover that attracted me to the disc on Ebay, a really good shot [by Hilary Shedel], poses where the Artist sits facing away the keyboard are clever, there's great lighting from the right, nice highlights in the hair, and with this particular copy, it's actually signed by Melanie herself in biro, which is a nice touch.

Well i really enjoyed tracks 1-5, 9-11 & 16-18, i must admit i certainly liked the transcription of Tchaikovsky's 'Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy', a neat piece, but ultimately it was Liszt's 'Un Sospiro' that i found heavenly, from the Italian it translates as 'A Sigh', and you certainly get that feeling from this beautiful tune, simple yet pure, over a gorgeous rippling left hand, i admit that Spanswick could have played the opening quieter, a greater sense of mystery is needed, right hand trebles need a bit more legato, but those ripples are great, Spanswick developes quite a hard right hand on those treble singing notes [0:44-1:19], it should be a sigh, Liszt is amazing, in bringing out a real sense of coda-esque half way through [2:23-2:53, and again at 4:00-4:23], a beautiful moment, and afterwards some lovely chimes in the treble [3:04+], a wonderful creation that i really haven't paid attention to in the past, i've had somewhat of a negative view of Liszt, of just a showy virtuoso, but he has depth and poetry too.

Here's young Rachel playing Liszt's 'Un Sospiro' on YouTube, you can see the devilish hand crossovers throughout the piece, notice the cute smile at 3:28!, haha.

Liszt - 12 Etudes D'Execution Transcendante [Duchable]

Now i must admit that Liszt isn't my favourite Composer, in fact far from it, he doesn't even get into my top 20, i dislike his Piano Concertos, i find his Orchestral music overblown, where he excelled was of course in the solo piano repertoire, but even here he has a tendency to be full of virtuoso and dash, quite often pompous and barnstorming in his works, trawling [and i mean trawling] through his compositions is hard work, it's all a menagerie of all sorts of stuff, no order or methodology to make it easy to collect / traverse, however... in saying all of that, there are gems to be heard, and not a few, he's worth the hard work, and here i enjoyed getting to know Liszt that little bit better. 

Francoise-Rene Duchable is French, he's now 59 years old, he recorded this disc in 1998, he has extensively recorded for the French label Erato, i like the creative front cover photo, Duchable on a high chair, completely white background for effect. 

So many times i have played this work, and have come away on the whole unsatisfied, there's stunning virtuosity aplenty, but poetry and lyricism?, a while back i was pleasantly stunned by Liszt's Harmonies Du Soir by Arrau, and the larger work that that single piece is taken from, has caused me to re-assess this work, and listen closer to the other pieces, one phenomenal thing that happened is that it caused me to watch a YouTube video by Boris Berezovsky, where he sweats his guts out playing the whole of the 12 live, i was also amazed by his Etude 4 'Mazeppa', just watch the pianism at 1:56-2:01, simply wow!, and when you can see the fingerwork, you appreciate the music so much more, so listening to this set anew...

I certainly found Etudes 4, 6 8 & 11 to be the most revelatory, and it's good to know that new favourites are bubbling to the surface, however i still find it's this Eleventh Etude 'Harmonies Du Soir' ['Evening Harmonies' or 'Harmonies of the Evening'] to be the most magical, an Etude yes, but it starts out gentle and poetic, even the main tune starts rhapsodic rather than virtuosic, but Liszt turns the main tune into a stunning rippling feast of chimerical notes [1:31-1:52], my favourite part of the whole piece, later Liszt can't help but move into barnstorming anthemic mode [4:55-5:41], with hands going up and down the keyboard while hammering out the tune, and this in turn leads straight into the main tune played at a delicious forte [5:41-6:00], and Liszt's coda / ending is slowing down the piece into gentleness [6:00+ & 6:28+], as Liszt's evening harmonies descend into night. 

Here's Duchable playing Etude 11 'Harmonies Du Soir' on YouTube, it's fairly quietly recorded there.