Liszt: Complete Piano Music Vol. 47 - transcriptions from Christus & The Legend of St Elisabeth

Kramer, Henry

8.573385

This monumental series of the complete piano works of Franz Liszt has reached volume 47, and contains eight transcriptions of sections from two of his oratorios. As I have often commented in the past, such transcriptions were purely functional, and served the purpose of introducing his large-scale works to audiences situated outside of the reach of performances of the original work.
The present transcriptions are largely uncomplicated and of modest difficulty, …the March of Three Kings from Christus, and the March of the Crusaders from The Legend of Elisabeth are most enjoyable. Both require a weight and dexterity in the octave passages, while the Interlude from The Legend is very imposing, with the most challenging part of the disc coming in the complex opening to Das Wunder (The Miracle) from Christus.
Henry Kramer, the young American winner of the Honens Piano Competition in 2015, and second prize winner in the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in 2016, has rather drawn the proverbial ‘short straw’ with works of passing interest, but he has certainly invested them with playing of admirable clarity and definition, the moments of difficulty allowing a display of his admirable technical accomplishment. He also has the benefit of an extremely fine recording made at the Yale School of Music in the USA. • David Denton, David's Review Corner, October 2017

CD x 1

Naxos

02.10.17

0747313338573