There was a time I would have run a mile from a compilation
like this, but there is something fascinating about having a
big heap of sixteen or so great pianists on a couple of CDs
stuffed to the brim with some of the most extravagant music
ever written for the piano. Despite the implications of the
‘Wild and Crazy’ title and the sales blurb, “a special celebration
of his wild and crazy side from an array of great pianists dazzling
virtuosity, extreme harmonies and textures a helter-skelter
ride through his piano oeuvre, with just the occasional moment
of relaxation”, Liszt knew what he was doing, and even the wildest
and craziest of the works here is controlled in structure and
content, and you can bet almost all of the performers are fully
in control as well.
Yes, even if like me you used to think of Liszt as a kind of
pianistic maniac – something the title of this compilation seems
determined to propagate – then think again. There are indeed
plenty of ‘fireworks’ along the way, but just to pick out a
few highlights, the Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, fulsomely
recorded in its arrangement by Vladimir Horowitz, is given every
chance to show its lyrical and sensitive side through the sometimes
controversial hands of Lang Lang. Here he works well with the
contrasts of texture and magical colours Liszt implies, and
even the manic fast bits sound more fluid and witty than crazy
– until all hell breaks loose of course, but that’s what we’re
here for after all.
With such a wide variety of recordings you might expect this
mixed bag to be a bit uneven, but even the most elderly of the
studio takes sound fresh as a daisy, and I would challenge anyone
to pick out the analogue from the digital in a blind test. Willem
Kempff’s Il Penseroso is warmly philosophical, ad well
programmed between the aforementioned Hungarian Rhapsody
and that from Martha Argerich, on blistering good form with
No.6. There are a few live recordings, but the variance
in background noise is a source of contrast in its own right
and keeps one alert, such as in Vladimir Horowitz’s Soirées
de Vienne, which is turbulent and elegant by turns. Each
CD has one work with orchestral accompaniment; that on CD 1
the doom-laden Totentanz in a classic rendition with
Jorge Bolet and the LSO, amusingly followed by Liszt’s version
of Mendelssohn’s Wedding March played with sparkle but
in a rather dry acoustic by Egon Petri.
CD 2 opens with another stalwart recording, that of Shura Cherkassky
with Herbert von Karajan in the Fantasia on Hungarian Folk
Tunes. It’s interesting to hear how the character of the
Berlin Phil has changed since this superb 1961 rendition, with
more pungent winds and a touch of East European vibrato in the
horns and oboes, sadly homogenised out of existence today. Yundi
Li is a new name to me, a young Chinese pianist whose touch
is light and fragrant in the Liebeslied, crystalline
in La campanella. Daniel Barenboim pops up a few times
in this collection, and excellent performances such as that
in the Concert Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto remind
one of what a capable Liszt performer he was – perhaps not the
most poetic, but always dynamic and involving. Not wishing to
gloss over notable performances, but there aren’t any real duds
amongst these recordings, and the only truly suspect recording
is that with Sviatoslav Richter, whose live Feux Follets
sounds as if it’s being heard through a rather long cardboard
tube. There’s just time to mention some brand new recordings
which you won’t find anywhere else on CD: Jean-Rodolphe Kars’s
1968 Decca recordings are a little lacking in gloss, but his
Nuages gris and La lugubre gondola No.1 are both
moodily fascinating, and the Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s
“Marriage of Figaro” is again rather dryly recorded but
well played by Egon Petri. Daniel Barenboim rounds the whole
thing off with the meditative Consolation No.1.
These are two very well-filled discs, and very good value at
bargain price. The booklet is a bit strange, with a catechism
of capsule anecdotes about the composer seemingly designed for
short attention-span consumers. It is not recommended that players
attempt to imitate the posture of the strange silhouetted figure
in the cover illustration. There are nice pictures of the pianists
inside though, and a handy date line of key facts in Liszt’s
life. If you like Liszt and you’re a collector of fine pianists
then this is an admirable collection to have around. It’s the
sort of catch-all release which you can take on holiday and
threaten to put on the car stereo if the kids are playing up,
and put on very loud when driving to the shops on your own.
Yes, we’ll be quaking under tall and wobbly heaps of ‘Liszt
200 Anniversary’ releases this year, but as far as compilations
go this one might well prove to be one of the better ones.
Dominy Clements
CD 1
Mephisto Waltz No.1, S.514 - Vladimir Ashkenazy
Liebestraum No.3 in A flat, S.541 No.3 – Daniel Barenboim
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in C sharp minor, S.244 - Arr. Vladimir
Horowitz - Lang Lang
Années de pèlerinage: 2ème année: Italie, S.161 - 2. Il Penseroso
(Lento) - Wilhelm Kempff
Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 in D flat, S.244 - Martha Argerich
10 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S.173 - No. 7 Funérailles
- Mikhail Pletnev
Soirées de Vienne: 9 Valses-Caprices after Schubert - Vladimir
Horowitz
Totentanz, S.126. Paraphrase on "Dies Irae"for piano
and orchestra - Jorge Bolet with the London Symphony Orchestra/Iván
Fischer
Paraphrase on "Wedding March" and "Elfin Chorus"
from Mendelssohn's "Midsummer Night's Dream" – Egon
Petri
CD 2
Fantasia on Hungarian Folk tunes, S.123 - Shura Cherkassky with
the Berliner Philharmoniker/Herbert von Karajan
Widmung, S.566 after Schumann - Yundi Li
Grandes etudes da Paganini, S141 - No. 3 in G sharp minor ("La
Campanella") - Yundi Li
Concert Paraphrase on Verdi's opera Rigoletto, S.434 – Daniel
Barenboim
Etudes de Concert, S.145 - No.1 Waldesrauschen - Géza Anda
Etudes de Concert, S.145 - No.2 Gnomenreigen - Mikhail Pletnev
12 Etudes d'exécution transcendante, S.139 - No.5 Feux follets
(Allegretto) - Sviatoslav Richter
Années de pèlerinage: 3ème année, S.163 - 4. Les jeux d'eau
à la Villa d'Este - Zoltán Kocsis
12 Etudes d'exécution transcendante, S.139 - No.8 Wilde Jagd
(Presto furioso) - Alice Sara Ott
Nuages gris, S.199 - Jean-Rodolphe Kars
La Lugubre Gondola, S.200 No.1 - Jean-Rodolphe Kars
Fantasy on Themes from Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”, S.697
- edited and completed by F. Busoni – Egon Petri
6 Consolations, S. 172 - No. 1 in E major (Andante con moto)
- Daniel Barenboim
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 9526 [79:21 + 77:43] 
