Hyperion Records

Liszt made his delightful arrangement of Weber’s Op 72 Polonaise brillante for piano and orchestra by the end of 1851. He also issued at the same time a version for two pianos and the present version for piano solo; all follow the same basic text. Whereas the transcriptions of the Jubelouvertüre and the Konzertstück adhere completely to Weber’s text, that of the Polonaise is somewhat freer: Liszt begins with an introduction derived from Weber’s own introduction to his Grande Polonaise, Op 21, transposed up a semitone, and continues with forty bars of fantasy upon themes of the polonaise which is to come. Then, apart from the occasional embellishment, things proceed in a similar manner to the original until the coda, which Liszt extends by just a few bars.

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1998