Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Années de Pèlerinage II, Deuxieme Année “Italie”, S161/R10b (1849) (Sposalizio
[8:23]; Il penseroso [6:01]; Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa
[2:32]; Sonetto 47 del Petrarca [5:34]; Sonetto 104 del Petrarca
[5:58]; Sonetto 123 del Petrarca [6:55]; Apres une lecture
du Dante, fantasia quasi una sonata [15:13]) [50:06]
Wiegenlied, S198/R58 (1881) [3:43]
Mosonyi's Grabgeleit, S194/R110 (1870) [6:53]
Am Grabe Richard Wagners, S267/R387 (1883) [3:11]
La lugubre gondola No. 2, S200/R81 (1885) [8:49]
Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch, S206/R83-84 (1885) [6:24]
Michael Korstick (piano)
rec. August 2009; Congress Centrum, Pforzheim, Germany
CPO 777 585-2 [79:56] 
Michael Korstick, best known on recordings for his Beethoven sonata cycle,
began a Liszt cycle on cpo in 2009 with the first book of the Années de Pèlerinage,
Suisse, and the B minor Sonata. I have not heard that disc, but if it is as
splendidly played as this one, which features Italie, the second of the three
books comprising Années de Pèlerinage, and several late Liszt pieces, it would
certainly be a worthwhile acquisition. To give you an idea of Korstick’s style
and temperament here, I would say he has a straightforward side like Brendel,
a fiery side like Argerich but with a greater sense of control, and a velvety
touch like Cliburn. He can seem like all these pianists in the same piece
even.
In Sonetto 104 di Petrarca, Korstick begins stormily, and then lowers the
temperature to allow the poetry and lyricism of the main theme to simmer to
an outpouring of great emotional release. The music then recedes in pitch
and melts to a lovely ending. In the leadoff piece, Sposalizio, Korstick’s
velvety dynamics work wonders in the rolling right-hand accompaniment near
the beginning that eventually grows restless. Also, later on he plays the
main theme in deftly hushed tones that so serenely capture its mesmerizingly
lonely grandeur.
Italie’s closing piece is the Dante Sonata, a fifteen-minute work mixing diabolical
Liszt with lyrical Liszt, flashy Liszt with lovely Liszt. Korstick catches
all the moods and when the big octave passages come, the notes dart out at
you in a sort of aural 3D, their buzz-saw precision evoking a deliciously
appropriate demonic sense.
Wiegenlied usually draws a fine performance from almost any pianist, but here
Korstick delivers an account of exceptional gossamer beauty. His Trauervorspiel
and Trauermarsch is powerful in its sense of the morbid, with sinister mystery
at the outset and an onrush of hysteria later on when the march theme builds
overtop an insistent ostinato figure to bring on a crash of epic power. Korstick
is consistently engaging in all the other pieces as well.
Other pianists of note in Années de Pèlerinage are Alfred Brendel/Philips,
Jerome Rose/Medici Classics and Lazar Berman/DG. All are good but, if I can
judge from this single disc, I would prefer Korstick over them owing to his
more chameleonic and dynamic manner, which impart more color and a bit more
drama to the music. In the late Liszt pieces Leslie Howard, on Hyperion, delivers
riveting, if sometimes overheated performances. Korstick probably has the
edge here too, although selected late pieces offered by Alfred Brendel on
Philips and Arnaldo Cohen on Naxos are also worthy of consideration.
The sound on Korstick’s disc is vivid and the album notes by Charles K. Tomicik
are enlightening. Texts for the Petrarc sonnets are included, as well as photographs
of the paintings that inspired Liszt in the various Italie pieces. All in
all, this is an excellent release.
Robert Cummings
All in all, this is an excellent release.