This is the hardest kind of CD to review, because
I have no strong feelings about it one way or the other. A lot of this
is Liszt’s flashiest, most virtuosic stuff, but low on nutrition: galops
and dances, a Capriccio on themes from Beethoven’s
The Ruins of
Athens, four Hungarian Rhapsodies. Vanessa Benelli Mosell uses
these chances to really show off her technical prowess, getting through
an hour of nearly impossible music without breaking a sweat. It’s all
well-engineered, too, except the Capriccio, where the loudest chords
caused my headphones to crackle.
So why am I underwhelmed? It could be that this breed of music is just not for me. It could be that the recital feels a little soulless: compounding the showy but shallow music are performances that don’t really have a strong personal stamp. Thus even the
Liebestraum in A flat is pretty but curiously unpoetic. The Rossini dance clatters along with little dynamic contrast between
mezzo-forte and anything else.
Most of this music I suspect I’d like better if they were played more imaginatively and less “straight”. The Hungarian Rhapsodies I know I like better in the hands of Cziffra or Jando - the best recording Jando ever made. Nevertheless, they’re competent and entertaining. This whole disc is competent, entertaining and underwhelming. I wish I’d liked it more. Then this would have been easier to write.
Brian Reinhart
Byzantion was rather more taken by this album
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Dec12/Liszt_Benelli_Mosell_94357.htm
