Hyperion Records | Liszt: The complete music for solo piano, Vol. 53a

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Death as an Avenger (1851) by Alfred Rethel (1816-1859)

CDA67401/2

Buy? £26.98

Recording details: July 1998
Budapest Studios of Hungarian Radio, Hungary
Produced by Tryggvi Tryggvason
Engineered by Tryggvi Tryggvason
Release date: November 1998
Total duration: 157 minutes 14 seconds

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'Exemplary, and superbly recorded' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Howard's dedication is clear in all his playing here, with clear, crisp articulation vividly caught in finely balanced sound' (The Guardian)

'Hyperion's production, as always, is superb. For the Lisztian, this is indispensable' (Fanfare, USA)

Liszt: The complete music for solo piano, Vol. 53a – Music for piano & orchestra I

Leslie Howard (piano), Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Karl Anton Rickenbacher (conductor)

		Piano Concerto No 1 in E flat major, S124 Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
CD1	1	Movement 1: Allegro maestoso. Tempo giusto [5'38]
	2	Movement 2: Quasi adagio [5'33]
	3	Movement 3: Allegretto vivace [4'23]
	4	Movement 4: Allegro marziale animato [4'33]
		Fantasie über Motive aus Beethovens Ruinen von Athen, S122 Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
	5	Movement 1: Tempo di marcia. Moderato [2'23]
	6	Movement 2: Cadenza del pianoforte – Allegro vivace ma non troppo – Allegro molto vivace – Cadenza del pianoforte [5'04]
	7	Movement 3: Allegretto – Poco a poco più mosso – Vivo – Tempo di marcia. Animato – Più allegro – Presto [5'48]
		Totentanz – Paraphrase über 'Dies irae', S126ii Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
	8	Introduction: Andante – Presto – Allegro – Allegro moderato [1'54]
	9	Variation 1: Allegro moderato [0'53]
	10	Variation 2: [L'istesso tempo] – Un poco animato [0'47]
	11	Variation 3: Molto vivace [0'28]
	12	Variation 4 'canonique': Lento – Presto [3'04]
	13	Variation 5: Vivace. Fugato – Cadenza [4'14]
	14	Variation 6: Sempre allegro, ma non troppo – Un poco meno allegro – Cadenza – Presto – Allegro animato [4'21]
		Grande fantaisie symphonique, S120 Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
	15	Movement 1: Lento [15'57]
	16	Movement 2: Allegro vivace – Andantino, senza interruzione – Vivace animato [13'45]
		Concerto in E minor for piano and strings 'Malédiction', S121 Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
CD2	1	Movement 1: Quasi moderato 'Malédiction' – Sostenuto – Molto agitato – Calmato 'Pleurs, angoisse' [4'19]
	2	Movement 2: Un poco più animato – Un poco agitato – Vivo 'Raillerie' – Sempre più di fuoco [3'50]
	3	Movement 3: Energico nobilmente – Sempre moderato, a tempo rubato – Sostenuto – Recitativo. Patetico. Senza tempo – Andante lacrimoso [2'48]
	4	Movement 4: Animato con agitazione – Molto animato, quasi presto – Stretto – Strepitoso [4'49]
		Concerto in E flat, S125a Op post. Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
	5	Movement 1: Andantino – Recitativo del pianoforte [1'50]
	6	Movement 2: Allegro – Tempo primo [3'14]
	7	Movement 3: Andante [4'02]
	8	Movement 4: Tempo primo – Allegro come prima [1'59]
	9	Movement 5: Allegro vivace – Più mosso [2'51]
		Grand solo de concert, S365 Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
	10	Movement 1: Allegro energico – Patetico – Agitato [3'55]
	11	Movement 2: Grandioso [3'49]
	12	Movement 3: Più mosso – Stretta [2'15]
	13	Movement 4: Andante, quasi marcia funèbre – Tempo giusto. Moderato – Allegro con bravura [4'49]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	14	Movement 01: Extrêmement lent [3'44]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	15	Movement 02: Tema. Allegro marziale [1'21]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) & Sigismond Thalberg (1812-1871)
	16	Movement 03: Variation 1. Ben marcato [1'01]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	17	Movement 04: Variation 2. Moderato [2'53]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) & Johann Peter Pixis (1788-1874)
	18	Movement 05: Variation 3 di bravura. Allegro animato [1'38]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	19	Movement 06: Ritornello [0'23]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) & Henri Herz (1803-1888)
	20	Movement 07: Variation 4. Legato e grazioso [1'51]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) & Carl Czerny (1791-1857)
	21	Movement 08: Variation 5. Vivo e brillante [1'18]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	22	Movement 09: Interlude 1. Fuocoso, molto energico – Lento, quasi recitativo [2'10]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) & Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
	23	Movement 10: Variation 6. Largo [1'28]
		Hexaméron – Morceau de concert 'Grandes Variations de bravoure sur la marche des Puritains de Bellini', S365b Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)
	24	Movement 11: Interlude 2. [L'istesso tempo] [1'09]
	25	Movement 12: Finale part 1. Molto vivace quasi prestissimo [1'39]
	26	Movement 13: Finale part 2. Allegro animato [1'57]
		C M von Webers Polonaise brillante, S367 Franz Liszt (1811-1886) & Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
	27	Movement 1: Introduzione. Adagio – Quasi andante – Animato [3'32]
	28	Movement 2: Tempo di Polacca [7'55]

This set and its companion (CDA67403/4) are perhaps the most important releases in Leslie Howard's complete survey of Liszt's piano music. In addition to such well known works as the mature Piano Concertos (two of the most popular works in the nineteenth-century Romantic repertoire) and the other lesser known but familiar pieces, several items here receive their first recordings; as a result of Leslie Howard's indefatigable research we can now hear orchestral versions of Hexaméron and the Grand Solo de concert for the first time. Also in new versions are the recently discovered Concerto in E flat, Op posth, and De Profundis. A re-examination of the manuscripts has led our pianist to make refinements to the published scores which provide a more accurate reflection of Liszt's intentions.

All these issues and more are documented in Leslie Howard's characteristically thorough notes.