Customer Reviews

Liszt for Lovers: Piano Dreams of Love and Passion

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The CD insert design of the Set Your Life to Music series might suggest that this is a collection "Classical Lite." However, while this compilation provides some Liszt's most well-known music, these beautiful and deep pieces should not be mistaken for "easy listening." These are wonderful compositions by a great composer, performed by musicians of the highest caliber (especially Claudio Arrau). This is music to close your eyes to while listening to and enjoying every note and every nuance of the performances.

Most of the selections are performed by Claudio Arrau, one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, an acknowledged master of the Liszt repertoire and, furthermore, a pupil of one of Liszt's pupils. Arrau plays these selections with power, passion, sensitivity, and highly nuanced delicacy, depending on what a given passage calls for, as he takes the listener through the rising and falling tides of passion in Liszt's music.

The "non-Arrau" selections recorded by Misha Dichter, Wibi Soerjadi, and Zoltan Kocsis are also excellent. All the recorded selections, whether digital or analog, have very clear sound quality. Highly recommended, whether as an introduction to Lizst or to add to several other CDs of music by this great Romantic composer.

Both Liszt and Arrau are at their apogee in this CD. This is one the few piano cd's I've heard where Liszt's passionate genius is both appropriately frighteningly strong and beautifully tender (as many of his contemporaries noted 150 years ago). Arrau, always thoughtful, and with his emphasis on touch and color, and delicacy, penetrates to the heart of these sometimes breathtakingly orchestral piano sounds. This is lush arch-romantic piano with a huge nuanced sound, and a constant emotional ebb and flow (and sound volume) as powerful than any other composer of that tempestuous era I have heard. The cd is very clearly recorded with excellent dynamics. Every selection is strong and well chosen and the cd sets a very consistent brooding romantic mood. The best introduction to (and still my favorite) Liszt.

As soon as I heard the piano solo, Liebestraume, I immediately purchased this cd particularly because it contains some of the greatest piano pieces ever composed. During Liszt's lifetime, audiences were very appreciative of his talent and ability to express his emotions through the use of his piano. Influenced by Chopin, Franz Liszt ultimately achieved high status as a composer with the ability to play spectacular classical music. Some of the songs included possess titles about nature, and in one of the songs, the piano is played so brilliantly that it feels as if you're actually listening to fountains. Lovers of classical music should purchase this remarkable disc. And best of all, at a low price, this is a great bargain.

An excellent collection of piano works which show some of the diversity and creative exuberance of Liszt, a sort of wild man composer whose music to me flows like a river- you do not often repeat anything. That is, it moves, quickly, then slowly, you hit a fall, rapids, come to near stopping, quiet, then loud, and little or no repetition. Still, it is beautiful. You probably will recognize some of these pieces, or at least, pieces of them. But for those not in the know about classical music, I give you the caveat not to expect the famous piece by Franz Liszt played in a Bugs Bunny cartoon and also a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Both pieces feature an arrangement from Hungarian Rhapsody Number 11, for your future benefit. The arrangement was better in the Bugs, though the animation from the T and J won it the prized Oscar that year, which steamed the Looney Tunes people. That piece was also the music on Intel Pentium processors for a few years and Liszt's appropriation of the term "Rhapsody" for that and related pieces became rather the standard meaning for the word and brought us the "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen- the name anyway. All of that of course has nothing to do with this CD, which is terrific anyway, as mentioned earlier. Somewhat romantic, though not necessarily so. You won't want to talk over this much anyway if you can really appreciate music. You'll miss too much.