Liszt Piano Concertos

[Barbirollians]

Very impressed by the Tamas Vasary/Bamberg SO/Prohaska recording of the two concertos I picked up on a DG Resonance CD for a song .

The link back to Chopin is clear from Vasary's crystalline playing .The accompaniment is pointed and the recording is superb for its age . Not a hint of bombast or fireworks for the sake of it and some super solo Liszt from Vasary thrown in.

[Nick Armstrong]

Very impressed by the Tamas Vasary/Bamberg SO/Prohaska recording of the two concertos I picked up on a DG Resonance CD for a song .

The link back to Chopin is clear from Vasary's crystalline playing .The accompaniment is pointed and the recording is superb for its age . Not a hint of bombast or fireworks for the sake of it and some super solo Liszt from Vasary thrown in.

Tamas V has taken me as close as I've ever come to accepting Liszt's music

[BBMmk2]

Tamas V has taken me as close as I've ever come to accepting Liszt's music

Obviously not as fan?

[Richard Tarleton]

The link back to Chopin is clear from Vasary's crystalline playing

Back to Chopin - can you elaborate a little here, Barbs? They were almost exact contemporaries, after all, and although the 1st PC was not orchestrated, performed and published until 1849 onwards Liszt seems to have sketched it out in 1830, before he'd heard or met Chopin....)

Are you referring to TV's style of playing Liszt, or a compositional influence?

[BBMmk2]

As far as I am aware, Paul Lewis has only recorded one Liszt disc. I am hoping h will record more, and so record the piano concerti!

[Richard Tarleton]

As far as I am aware, Paul Lewis has only recorded one Liszt disc. I am hoping h will record more, and so record the piano concerti!

Indeed, let's hope so bbm. I have his disc of the B minor Sonata. He is a fine Lisztian, as befits an erstwhile pupil of Alfred Brendel. I heard him in Swansea early in his career, a recital that included 6 pieces from Années de Pèlerinage (Italy, inc. profound performances of the 3 Petrarch Sonnets) and ended with a stonking performance of Reminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor. It was a very Brendelian programme all round, including Clementi, Bach and Busoni.

[BBMmk2]

Indeed, let's hope so bbm. I have his disc of the B minor Sonata. He is a fine Lisztian, as befits an erstwhile pupil of Alfred Brendel. I heard him in Swansea early in his career, a recital that included 6 pieces from Années de Pèlerinage (Italy, inc. profound performances of the 3 Petrarch Sonnets) and ended with a stonking performance of Reminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor. It was a very Brendelian programme all round, including Clementi, Bach and Busoni.

I would have loved to have gone! Yes, can we all but hope hewill record Liszt, as would be befitting, I would think, for himself and his mentor.

[Jonathan]

I used to have the Paul Lewis sonata disc but lost it during my divorce. I shall have to find a copy of it somewhere in a charity shop, I think!

[Richard Tarleton]

I used to have the Paul Lewis sonata disc but lost it during my divorce. I shall have to find a copy of it somewhere in a charity shop, I think!

That's worthy of a new thread Jonathan - CDs I Lost In My Divorce And Must Get Again

[HighlandDougie]

Very impressed by the Tamas Vasary/Bamberg SO/Prohaska recording of the two concertos I picked up on a DG Resonance CD for a song .

The link back to Chopin is clear from Vasary's crystalline playing .The accompaniment is pointed and the recording is superb for its age . Not a hint of bombast or fireworks for the sake of it and some super solo Liszt from Vasary thrown in.

Barbs's post led me to buy a used copy (Japanese remastering - all that seems to be available). I agree with every word - crystalline playing indeed, excitingly accompanied. Even the (really quite trashy) 2nd Concerto sounds - almost - convincing in TV's hands. As good as Richter and Zimerman.

[Barbirollians]

Jolly glad you liked it HD - interestingly when I read the note in the DG Originals reissue of TV's 1957 Liszt recital which was his debut recording for DG the reviewer from Records and Recording from 1969 also referred to TV bringing a great Chopin player' sensibility to Liszt. I think what I meant is the absolute clarity of his playing even when it sounds like there are fistfuls of notes but also the ability to play without a hint of it ever becoming clangorous in forte and fortissimo passages.

[Conchis]

Currently listening to Fischer and Klemperer giving by far the best performance I have ever heard of PC1.

Fischer is superb but I give most credit to Klemperer - the man who can make me like music I don't normally like.

Annoyingly, the box (dedicated to Fischer) contains two of the three recordings she made of the Schumann PC, but NOT the one conducted by O.K. Very annoying!

[Barbirollians]

I assume it is not the Icon Warner box which does include the performance conducted by Klemperer . There is also an excellent live performance with Keilberth knocking about on ICA Classics.

[Conchis]

I assume it is not the Icon Warner box which does include the performance conducted by Klemperer . There is also an excellent live performance with Keilberth knocking about on ICA Classics.

It's this one, barbs:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Milestones-Piano-Legend-Annie-Fischer/dp/B01MTD089N/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1499721215&sr=8-2&keywords=annie+fischer

Actually, it's very good indeed: a superb Bartok 3 with Markevtich and Schumann PC with Giulini and the Philharmonia.

[Barbirollians]

The Markevitch also in the Icon box - is the Schumann with Giulini a studio recording ?

The Fischer/Klemperer can be had very cheaply £1.41 on Amazon on a secondhand copy of an EMI Armchair concert CD and you get Klemperer in the Mendelssohn Italian Symphony too