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Track(s) taken from CDA66771/2

Impromptu brillant sur des thèmes de Rossini et Spontini, S150 Op 3

composer
circa 1824
composer
themes from La donna del lago and Armida
composer
themes from Olympie and Fernand Cortez

Leslie Howard (piano)
Recording details: October 1992
St Martin's Church, East Woodhay, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Produced by Tryggvi Tryggvason
Engineered by Tryggvi Tryggvason
Release date: February 1994
Total duration: 12 minutes 12 seconds

Cover artwork: Rocky Gorge, with a bridge, near Sorrento (1823). Heinrich Reinhold (1788-1825)
 

Reviews

‘These clearly recorded discs should find a place in every music library in the land!’ (Gramophone)

‘Another abundant, revelatory, superb instalment in what is looming as perhaps the most adventurous, most consistently realized, and grandest project in recording history’ (Fanfare, USA)
The Opus 3 Impromptu brillant is intended for light entertainment, and the formal structure is perforce rather haphazard since so much external material is employed. La donna del lago and Armida by Rossini provide the themes for the first part of the work, the middle section utilises Spontini’s Olympie and Fernand Cortez, and the Rossini themes return in a sort of recapitulation. However, to Lisztians, the most striking thing about the piece is Liszt’s original introduction, which he salvaged to introduce the E flat major study of the 1838 set, and then eventually transformed that into Eroica in the Transcendental Etudes.

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1994

L’Impromptu Brillant Opus 3 est conçu comme un divertissement, et sa structure formelle est assez libre, puisqu’il y a recours à tant d’apports extérieurs. La donna del lago et Armida de Rossini fournissent ses thèmes à la première partie de l’œuvre, tandis que la section médiane utilise l’Olympie et Fernand Cortez de Spontini, et que les thèmes de Rossini retournent en une sorte de récapitulation. Cependant, pour les Lisztiens, ce qui frappe surtout est l’introduction originale de l’œuvre, qu’il récupéra pour introduire son étude majeure en mi mineur dans la série de 1838, et qu’il transforma ensuite en l’Eroica des Etudes Transcendantes.

extrait des notes rédigées par Leslie Howard © 1994
Français: Luisella Simpson

Das Opus 3 Impromptu brillant ist als leichte Unterhaltung gedacht und die formale Struktur notgedrungenermaßen ziemlich willkürlich, da soviel externes Material eingesetzt wird. La donna del lago und Armida von Rossini liefern die Themen für den ersten Teil des Werkes, der Mittelteil zieht Olympie und Fernand Cortez von Spontini heran, und die Rossini-Themen erscheinen erneut in einer Art Wiederaufnahme. Der für Lisztianer auffallendste Aspekt des Stückes ist jedoch Liszts originelle Einleitung, die er für die Exposition der Studie in Es-Dur aus dem Zyklus von 1838 neu verwertete und diese dann schließlich ihrerseits in die Eroica der Transzendentalen Etüden umwandelte.

aus dem Begleittext von Leslie Howard © 1994
Deutsch: Hypérion

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