Liszt: Complete Piano Music Vol. 46 - Berlioz Transcriptions

Bian, Feng

8.573710

The Forty-sixth edition in the complete piano music is devoted to the transcriptions of opera and concert music by Hector Berlioz published in the later part of his life. Such arrangements helped to disseminate music to audiences outside of the reach of symphony orchestras in an age long before today’s motorised transport, while at the same time used to demonstrate the virtuosity of the arranger. Both were good reasons for Franz Liszt to embark on such transcriptions, though looking back they were not much more than piano arrangements used today by opera and ballet rehearsal pianists. The soloist on this disc, Feng Bian, then poses the question, as many have done before him, as to how much freedom of expression Liszt used in his performances of such works. Certainly the young Chinese-born pianist uses tempos I have yet to encounter in the concert hall, even employing a jaunty March au supplice from the Sinfonia fantastique. That said, he is already a multi-award winner that would point to a technically assured performer on stage, and when Liszt does offer challenges, they are despatched with a comforting ease. The recording, for some reason requiring five days, was made at the Yale School of Music, where Feng Bian studied with Peter Frankl, and would appear to have had the microphone(s) very close to the instrument, the lower octaves given the impact many of these works require, and a dry ambiance adding to the clean-cut finger-work. Not essential Liszt, but it adds to our knowledge of his enormous output. • David Denton, David's Review Corner, May 2017

CD x 1

Naxos

5/2/17

0747313371075