Liszt: Orchestral Works - Totentanz, Tasso, Die Trauergondel II, Piano Solo Works

Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Blunier, Stefan, Tanski, Claudius

MDG 937 1678-6

The 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth has been marked with a flurry of releases and reissues demonstrating that the music of the master showman is still incredibly popular with performers and audiences alike. This 2011 SACD from MDG celebrates Liszt in several aspects of his output, and the program casts him as an original orchestral composer, a brilliant writer for piano and orchestra, and as a master of solo keyboard music. The symphonic poem Tasso is but one example of the program music Liszt developed, along with the equally popular Les Préludes and Mazeppa, and the drama and pathos of the 16th century poet's life is vividly depicted. Totentanz, even more than Liszt's two piano concertos, is the virtuoso at his flashiest, and this dazzling set of concertante variations on the Dies Irae chant is still a popular vehicle for pianists. The four solo piano pieces, as well as Totentanz, are confidently performed by Claudius Tanski, an artist who regularly appears on this label's recordings. The modern orchestral arrangement by John Adams of Die Trauer-Gondel (La lugubre gondola No. 2) is artful and an appropriate addition to the program, since Liszt himself was a frequent arranger of other composers' works. MDG's unprocessed multichannel sound is deep and spacious, and the dynamic range is extremely wide, so some attention should be paid to setting the correct volume level, especially to hear the extremely soft passages.

SACD x 1

MDG

29.04.11

760623167862