BaL 1.03.25 - Liszt: Totentanz

[Wolfram]

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.

You are right; I streamed Brendel and Haitink this morning and fun is just what their recording is. They really camp it up in places.

I’ve listened to three recordings of this so far and each time I thought I heard a snatch of the big tune from Saint-Saens’ 3rd symphony. Am I imagining this? The piece was written well before the Saint-Saens, but Liszt was a big influence on the Frenchman.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

I’ve listened to three recordings of this so far and each time I thought I heard a snatch of the big tune from Saint-Saens’ 3rd symphony. Am I imagining this? The piece was written well before the Saint-Saens, but Liszt was a big influence on the Frenchman.

I don't know the Liszt but I assume the quotation of the Dies Irae chant, which is similar in melodic outline to the S-S big tune, accounts for this.

[Wolfram]

I don't know the Liszt but I assume the quotation of the Dies Irae chant, which is similar in melodic outline to the S-S big tune, accounts for this.

I get this entirely. But the question for me is; are they both drawing independently on the Dies Irae, or is Liszt drawing on the Dies Irae for his variations and Saint-Saens drawing on Liszt’s treatment of the chant? Because I can now hear the ‘big tune’ all over the place in the Liszt in such a way as it brings Saint-Saens to mind each time; I doesn’t bring Rachmaninov to mind, however, who also draws extensively on the Dies Irae.