Hyperion Records

In his transcription of Beethoven’s song cycle ‘To the distant beloved’ Liszt permits himself very few liberties, but from time to time actually omits repeated portions of melody in order to bring the varied accompaniment into the limelight. The songs flow one into another and, as in the poem by Aloys Jeitteles, the last verse of the first song is recalled in the last verse of the sixth: (i) The poet sits on the hill, gazes into the distance and sings to his beloved; (ii) He wishes to be where amongst the blue mountains in the mist to avoid the pain of separation; (iii) He asks the little sailing clouds to convey his love and describe his tears; (iv) He wants the clouds to transport him so that he might share the joy of the wind rustling in her hair; (v) May has returned uniting all nature except the poet and his love; (vi) The poet asks his love to take the songs in the calm of twilight and sing them in return so that what a loving heart has blessed shall reach a loving heart.

from notes by Leslie Howard © 1991