MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively Classicsonline Crotchet

 

Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Symphonic Poems: Hungaria, S103 (1856) [21:52]; Héroïde funèbre, S102 (1849) [23:19]; Le Triomphe funèbre de Tasso (1866) [13:05]
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Michael Halász
rec. Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 30 May-1 June 2005. DDD
NAXOS 8.557847 [58:16]
Experience Classicsonline


Hungaria
, S109, begins darkly, ominously. Here is the spirit of pure Romanticism. The piece was begun in 1848 - the year of the Hungarian uprising against the Hapsburgs. A march with origins in  an earlier piece, Heroic March in Hungarian Style, leads to an episodic section which includes some work for solo violin. 'Episodic' seems to sum up this work perfectly, in fact, but it works here chiefly because of the élan of the New Zealanders involved. The recording is very good without being demonstration quality. Nevertheless there is real detail there, and the thumping timpani-emphasised arrival at 12:35 makes its mark in no uncertain fashion. The descent into the depths - which reaches its stillest point around 15:30 - is particularly atmospheric. Avoidance of bombast, which enables the closing bars to sound triumphant, is symptomatic of the entire disc.

The Héroïde funèbre, S102 is actually the first movement of a projected ‘Revolutionary Symphony’ that was never to see completion. The funereal Lento lugubre introduction unites Beethoven's famous 'Eroica' funeral march with the nightmarish side of Berlioz. Liszt’s works hints of The Marseillaise into his fabric. The discipline of the New Zealand orchestra enables the long stretch of this piece to work.

Finally, the slightly shorter Tasse which is not to be confused with Tasso, the first version of this piece, which dates from 1849. There is much beauty here, and the phrasing from the New Zealand strings in particular is remarkably tender. ‘A Gondolier's Song’ is given central importance as regards thematic material, but what really matters is the elegiac mood, captured to perfection here.

Naxos seem to have some affinity with Liszt, for recently I welcomed the orchestrations of the Hungarian Rhapsodies (8.570230). I still enjoy the Masur traversals of the Liszt symphonic poems (currently available as a 7-CD set), but Halász provides a viable alternative.

Colin Clarke

see also Review by Michael Cookson


 


 




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.