Hyperion Records

Antonia Raab, who died in 1902, was a pupil of Liszt, and her poetry which inspired Schlaflos! (‘Sleepless!—Question and Answer’) has not come down to us. But it is easy to imagine the thought behind this miniature, where the tossing and turning is resolved by a simple transformation of the theme and the arrival of tonality which brings rest. Liszt offers some alternative passages in the piece, so two versions are recorded here. The first is the main text, where sleep is a distant silence; the second has a shorter, more frenetic questioning, and a safer resolution, almost like snoring!

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1991