I have to admit to being somewhat resistant to the heavy romanticism
of Franz Liszt’s music, but having come under the spell of some
of the enigmatic late works such as La Lugubre Gondola,
and hearing plenty of the more spectacular pieces played live,
there are qualities which have taken a grip on my soul and refuse
to leave.
The Années de Pèlerinage is a huge collection of pieces
which occupied Liszt for more than half his lifetime. The nature
of the piece as an entire cycle began with the conception of
a second volume, following successful performances of the first
in the late 1830s and early 1840s. This second volume has close
connections with the art and literature he encountered in Italy,
and these often profoundest of musical expressions range from
the contemplative ecstasy of the opening Sposalizio,
influenced by a painting by Raphael, to the sometimes stormy
passions of the Sonetto movements, the texts by Petrarch
being given in Italian in the booklet but not translated. One
of the most breathtakingly influential pieces for other composers
such as Wagner and, if I trust my ears, Shostakovich is Il
Penseroso. This takes its title from a part of Michelangelo’s
tomb for Lorenzo di Medici in Florence, and contains some extraordinary
harmonic progressions and an atmosphere of remarkable funerary
intensity. The seventh and final piece is the monumental Après
une Lecture de Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata, which as Charles
K. Tomicik points out in the booklet notes, is “an idea transcending
all conventional aesthetic limits.” The technical demands of
this piece are huge in every regard, and Michael Korstick is
equal to and master of all of them.
Michael Korstick’s recording on CPO 777478 of Années de Pèlerinage
I and the Piano Sonata in B minor has been well received,
and I can well believe it from the playing on this release.
Korstick has a truly powerful forte which allows him
to treat the softer moods without pussyfooting around the keyboard.
While resisting the potential for pianistic opacity through
the rich nature of some of Liszt’s piano writing, Korstick also
manages to sing with the instrument, drawing out lyrical lines
and inner voices, as well as balancing the harmonic content
with superb sensitivity and evenness of touch. There is some
heavy breathing going on which comes through in the gentler
but still hugely intense passages of pieces like the Sonetto
104, but I think we can easily take this against the exquisite
authenticity of Korstick’s craft, through which no note escapes
as being unimportant.
The remaining works are a selection of those often sparing and
melancholy late works which together form one of the “great
enigmas of music history.” Even the title Wiegenlied or
‘Cradle Song’ stands over a score of gentle mood but remarkable
tonal ambiguity. Mosonyis Grabeleit or ‘Mosonyi’s Funeral
Procession’ is both dramatic and elegiac: less a slow march
and more an emanation from within the grave itself. Am Grabe
Richard Wagners refers to Liszt’s ‘Excelsior’ theme from
an earlier work, to which Wagner had pointed out a similarity
to his ‘Parsifal’ motif. This is another piece which is almost
post-modern in its single-minded brevity and uniform reluctance
to communicate any sentiment beyond unbreachable introspection.
La lugubre gondola – a superlative expression of terminal
gloom in music, was inspired by a Venetian funeral procession
through the Grand Canal, and the piece took numerous forms and
arrangements. The final, mighty descending lines and ultimate
piano-busting conclusion of the Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch
place the definitive headstone at the end of a superb and
substantial Liszt recital.
This CPO recording is very good indeed, though the very lowest
notes, often requiring and receiving considerable impact from
the pianist, seem somehow more distant than the rest in terms
of resonance. This is a small point and not really a complaint;
there always being a trade-off between bass oomph and overall
transparency. Competitors and great names in this field are
of course numerous, and I’ve always had a good deal of time
for Stephen Hough’s wide reaching double-disc survey on the
Virgin label , as well as Alfred Brendel’s fine interpretations
on Philips. I would also include those little morsels granted
by Horowitz’s late recordings. I’m less keen on Jenö Jandó’s
rather uninvolving sounding if technically impressive Naxos
recording if you’re tempted by that particular bargain route.
There are many ways to take Liszt’s Italian tour, and I’m not
about to start making claims about this release being the ultimate
first choice. I think the difference with Michael Korstick for
me is that I’ve become more of a fan of the music rather than
the phenomenal technique of this or any pianist, and this CPO
recording has very much left me wanting more.
Dominy Clements
Michael Korstick (piano)
