Romantic PCs from Brilliant Classics

[TerraEpon]

I absolutely love the Kabalevsky Piano concerto no 3 (youth).

Me too. It's just so....good. Definitely a piece I'd buy another recording of, but I hardly need another R-K PC, good as it is...

Its Funny but has anyone noticed that the main theme of the second movement is EXACTLY THE SAME as second section of Dvoraks famous Humoreske Op. 101 No.7. It was my Piano teacher, the Late Cyrus Panthaky who pointed it out to me. Nevertheless its one of the great fun concertos I never get tired of listening to!

Never noticed that. Will have to check it out.

[Steve B]

This should be a new thread but a bit nervous to start it , ie. "works by sung composers that deserve to be unsung". But the cd of this series with the Liszt and Liszt arrangements of others' works has three ABSOLUTELY EXECRABLE pieces at the outset of the disc:
1.L's transcription of Schubert's fantasy on a theme from Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens"
2.His "version" of Weber's Polonaise Brilliante (L'Hilarite)
3. Liszt's own Concerto Pathetique(orchestral version)


They are ALL  awful, IMHO. Sheer empty repetition, for the sake of virtuosity. Liszt, at his most bombastic, can be truly BAD(NOT bad its good!:).

The disc is saved by the last piece: L's better transcription of Schubert's Wanderer Phantasy; with its magnificent and exciting final fugue.

And Louie Lortie(the only non Vox pianist here; its a Chandos re-issue) just hasnt the power for this repertoire. Ponti can carry off stuff like this eg .the Totentanz.

Steve

[thalbergmad]

I was unimpressed with those as well. Not exactly Liszt at his best. I am far from against virtuoso displays, but these are not good examples of what can be done.

I like Liszt, but have never warmed to his works for piano and orchestra (apart from Totentanz), including the triangle concerto.

Good idea for a new thread, but I can see it causing trouble. Oft played works that i feel inferior makes my blood boil.

Thal

[edurban]

They are ALL  awful, IMHO. Sheer empty repetition, for the sake of virtuosity

Go figure, I adore the Weber-Liszt Polacca Brillante, always have.  My current shelf recording of it is Benjamin Frith on Naxos.  Just plain fun, and Liszt adds a little oomph to Weber's original.  Something for everyone in this world!

David

[TerraEpon]

Huh. I also love all the Liszt stuff (I have the complete piano and orchestra music on Hyperion, 4 discs worth). The Weber is eternally catchy, and the Beethoven one, while not Liszt's best, certainly could be never be called "ABSOLUTELY EXECRABLE"...

[Jonathan]

As do I - Liszt is my absolute favourite composer, bar none!

[Steve B]

I must add, that I think "Benediction de la dieu dans la solitude" from "Harmonies poetiques et religieuses" has one of the most sublimely beautiful melodies in all music. "Orpheus"(symphonic poem) is also lovely; its just that Liszt, at his worst, can be so bombastic its not even fun!

And, Thal, yes, I agree SOME virtuoso displays WORK; I am certainly not against them per se, or else i should be a total hypocrite:).

It just seems wrong, or unbalanced(if you like) that truly powerful works like Scharwenka 3, Paderewski are so relatively unknown whilst "Liszt is Liszt" so is ok(at the least!) to good(though I recognise, most of the particular works in question arent often performed or recorded). The examples of (non-Liszt or sung names) I have given combine passages of sheer virtuosity with depth, conciseness(sometimes!:)) and memorable tunes. Again, usual caveat applies: these are PERSONAL opinions.  Steve

[JimL]

Steve!  Have you got the Rufinatscha PC yet?  I have yet to see you participate in that thread, and I'm dying of curiosity to find out how it impresses you!

[Steve B]

Jim, No; cant afford cds at the moment(:(The Brilliant Concerti box was a present from the boyfriend!).

Re: THE concerto box. Are the piano glissandi near the start of the Liszt Totentanz in the score? (does anyone know?). I seem to remember reading here that another pianist had done his own version of this piece; so has Ponti done so too?(wouldnt surprise me!:)).

Sorry, if I offended u,Jonathan; but there ARE a couple of Liszt pieces I like(see above post).I DO actually quite like the Totentanz but it doesnt SCARE me ;shouldnt a Dance of Death, incorporating variations on Dies Irae, really FRIGHTEN one?!Its enjoyable though!6/10

And THAT big, luscious grand theme that ends D'Albert number 2. It EQUALS a Rach big romantic theme; so memorable and moving.D'Albert overall 9/10(big tune 10/10)

And the Raff "ode to Spring"- perfect slow, longbreathed theme to start, then a lot of (pleasant, I quite like it!) whiffling and a storm in a teacup. Sorry, Mark .
Lovely slow tune 9/10; overall, 6/10

Berwald PC-mad as a hatter; played mad as a hatter. 10/10!

Bronsart 9/10(Ponti actually UNDERstates the slow movment, I think:)!)11/10 for the combined tarantella/Meistersinger type counterpoint in finale, one of most joyful, camp yet beautiful bits in ALL music; AND great contrapuntal skill in combining such seemingly incommensurate melodies(though harmonically they msut be similar- ?Jim)

Alkan. Concerto da camera(number?). Good for conciseness(one movement,a-B-a), with comes-with-the-territory grand opening tutti. 7/10

Schumann Introduction and allegro(the earlier op.92 one). Listen to Ponti's bi-polar playing(it is thought Schumann was, or was labelable as, bi-polar); I think Schumann would have thought it SO idiomatic, the Florestan and Eusebius: the love-filled reveries changing, in quicksilver fashion, to frenzied, exhausting lunging forward. 10/10.

The marks-reductive, I know, but give a (PERSONAL) idea only- refer to the MUSIC primarily.

Any other gradings/remarks?

Take care

Steve



Steve

[JimL]

The b-f should have sent away for the Rufinatscha, since I'd bet bucks to beans you already had the original releases of everything in that set.  If I'm not mistaken Ponti recorded the Alkan Concerto da camera #2 in C-sharp Minor.  The dead giveaway is if it's scored for strings only.  The first one (in A Minor), scored for full orchestra, was only recently rediscovered and recorded for Hyperion in their RPC Series (coupled with #2 and the Henselt).  And I mentioned previously that Raymond Lewenthal produced a pastiche version of the Liszt Totentanz cobbled together from sketches the composer made for an earlier version of the Totentanz along with bits of his unfinished De profundis concertante fantasy.  As far as the finale of the Bronsart is concerned, it's more like the composer reharmonizes fragments of the tarantella theme along the melodic contour of the first movement theme in the solo cello.

[Jonathan]

Hi All,
Perhaps I can clarify this Totentanz business.  There are actually 3 versions of the piece - the earliest is held by someone who is a private collector and is unwilling to share the score (where have we heard that before?) and dates from 1839.  The second version (which is the 1853 version includes a large amount of material from the abandoned (and very nearly complete) De Profundis concerto work from 1834/5 (as JimL said before).  (Incidentally, I think this work works better without Leslie Howard's completion of the final few bars - Stephen Mayer's ASV recording is, IMHO more poetic and graceful).
 
Anyway, Totentanz, in the 1853 was at one time looked at by Busoni and has been described as the Busoni version.  This version includes 1 ossia variation (recorded by Leslie Howard in his complete set of works for piano and orchestra).  The final version from 1859 is the one which we all know.  The glissandi mentioned earlier occur in both the later 2 versions.  I'm not familiar with the Lewenthal recording so I don't know if it is the Busoni version or if he tinkered with it himself!  (For those who don't know, I am CD reviewer for the UK Liszt society).

SteveB, don't worry, you haven't offended me in the slightest!

[JimL]

In the liner notes for the old Columbia LP (coupled with the Henselt), Lewenthal claimed to have pasted together the version he played himself, using, I would assume, the 1853 and 1859 versions.

[TerraEpon]

Really? 1839? That's pretty surprising considering his (un)familiarity with the orchestra at the time. Sure it wasn't 1849?

And yeah, the whole "in the hands of a private collector" thing sucks. x.x

[Jonathan]

Hi TerraEpon,
Just done a bit more research and he planned it in 1839 but wrote it out in 1849.  Faulty memory alert on my part...!

Some of the other orchestral works from the early 1840s are actually pretty well orchestrated (according to those who know about such things!) and it seems he sort of lost his nerve later on and went on to start using Raff and Conradi as assistants. 

[JimL]

Minor correction on my part.  The commentary by Lewenthal in which he describes the process of cobbling together his hybrid version of the Totentanz was on the little bonus record in the sleeve on the front.  He also included musical examples of his work (such as dispensing with the opening of the 1859 version and using bells and trombones to intone the "Dies irae" theme).  I'm assuming that that opening is from 1853.  He also interpolated two "De profundis" episodes, including a tutti statement of that theme juxtaposed against the "Dies irae" in the piano part.