BaL 1.03.25 - Liszt: Totentanz

[Pulcinella]

1500
Building a Library
Pianist Iain Burnside choses his favourite recording of Liszt's Totentanz.

Composed in the 1830s and revised in the 1850s, Liszt's Totentanz (Dance of Death) was possibly inspired by a fresco Liszt saw in the Campo Santo during a visit to Pisa, The Triumph of Death. It is a fiendishly exhilarating piece for piano and orchestra based on the Dies irae plainchant from the medieval Mass for the Dead, exuding an aura of supernatural fear and terror with piano writing that challenges even the most virtuosic soloists.

Presto listing here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/39826--liszt-totentanz-s126-for-piano-orchestra/browse

BBC MM issue (Volume 19, Number 13):
Martin Roscoe/BBCPO/ Leo Hussain
Recorded in BBC Philharmonic Studio, MediaCityUK, Salford, 28 June 2011

New style of winner announcement: first choice (but no others given) and no conductor, presumably because he (Charles Dutoit) has been cancelled.

First choice:
Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano)
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Decca 4330752

Available as a download or as a Presto CD:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8079584--liszt-piano-concerto-nos-1-2

[Petrushka]

Only Alfred Brendel/LPO/Haitink here which I think is the version most often recommended.

To be honest, it's not often wheeled out chez Petrushka (Hallowe'en possibly) as it's not really a work of much substance or importance imo. I'm therefore not in the market for another recording.

[Pulcinella]

Only Alfred Brendel/LPO/Haitink here which I think is the version most often recommended.

To be honest, it's not often wheeled out chez Petrushka (Hallowe'en possibly) as it's not really a work of much substance or importance imo. I'm therefore not in the market for another recording.

I've just spun the BBC MM offering, and agree.
Bombastic, unsubtle.....maybe just not my period.

[Wolfram]

Only Alfred Brendel/LPO/Haitink here which I think is the version most often recommended.

To be honest, it's not often wheeled out chez Petrushka (Hallowe'en possibly) as it's not really a work of much substance or importance imo. I'm therefore not in the market for another recording.

To my surprise I find that I have two recordings of this; Bolet and Zimerman, and Zimerman is by far the better of the two. But, although it’s good that BaL is featuring a work that it probably hasn’t covered before, I can’t help but agree with Petrushka; I don’t think this is Liszt at his best.

[richardfinegold]

I’m not a Liszt-o-maniac; and except for the odd radio hearing I never actually sought this out until recently after reading a review of a recording and I streamed Beroff/Masur. That will do me for another half century

[Barbirollians]

Brendel/Haitink makes more music out of it than most . Byron Janis and Zimerman good too.

[richardfinegold]

Brendel/Haitink makes more music out of it than most . Byron Janis and Zimerman good too.

I was stuck at home with a virus and pulled the big Brendel box off the shelf. You are correct, Brendel and Haitink really embrace the kitsch and it was a fun listen. On the surface of it those two performers wouldn’t jump out as arch Romantics , but I am glad that your post led me to pull that disc out. Fwiw Brendel is my preferred recording of the Sonata.

[Darloboy]

First time ever on BaL, I think.

[Parry1912]

Jeremy Nicholas picked Friere/Plasson in a Gramophone Collection article a couple of years ago.

[Barbirollians]

Jeremy Nicholas picked Friere/Plasson in a Gramophone Collection article a couple of years ago.

And ignored Brendel .

[MickyD]

For something a bit different, try Rian de Waal on an Erard piano from 1886 and Anima Eterna/Immerseel.

[vinteuil]

For something a bit different, try Rian de Waal on an Erard piano from 1886 and Anima Eterna/Immerseel.

.... conveniently available on this cheap 7 CD set -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099BWRSZF

.

[Pulcinella]

.... conveniently available on this cheap 7 CD set -
....

.

Nothing we all can't hum along to there: ideal R3 material.



(Well, hardly anything....Mazeppa might be a struggle!)

[LHC]

I've got the Bolet recording, which is OK.

However, I saw Alice Sara Ott give a blistering performance with the LSO and Tony Pappano in October 2023 which knocked Bolet's recording into a cocked hat. The complete concert is available to watch on DG's Stage+ channel, but if a recording of their performance was released on LSO Live, I'd buy it in a shot.

[MickyD]

.... conveniently available on this cheap 7 CD set -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B099BWRSZF

.

A very good bargain, some really cracking recordings there. The only ones I don't have is the Gershwin and Orff ones, which didn't seem to garner much praise at the time.