Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Totentanz

Liszt (Artist), Petrenko (Artist), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Eldar Nebolsin (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Eldar Nebolsin
• Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
• Audio CD (November 18, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B001HBX8UK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,418 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eldar Nebolsin's Liszt Concertos: Romantic Fire, Modern Clarity, November 21, 2008

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Dan Fee "music fan aka drdanfee" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Totentanz (Audio CD)

Younger pianist Eldar Nebolsin has arrived in our recording catalogs after winning two world competitions. In 1992, he was grand prize winner in the Santander competition, also garnering a special prize for Mozart concerto playing. Then in 2005, he again won first prize in the first ever Richter piano competition, repeating again his special recognition for Mozart concerto playing.

Now he arrives on Naxos with the two Liszt concertos, plus Totentanz for piano and orchestra. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic partners him, led by Russian Vasily Petrenko who is principal conductor now in Liverpool. Petrenko graduated in St. Petersburg, then started his conducting career in Russia, and he, too, has won several music competitions.

Speaking of Richter, one of the enduring recorded standards for performing these Liszt concertos was certainly set by Sviatoslav Richter himself in a famous Phillips disc with Kyril Kondrashin leading the LSO. Other high marks for comparisons might include Lazar Berman with Carlo Maria Giulini leading the Vienna Symphony, Barry Douglas with Jun'ichi Hirokami leading the LSO, Krystian Zimmerman with Seiji Ozawa leading Boston, Emmanuel Ax with Salonen leading the Philharmonia London, Jerome Rose in Budapest with Rico Saccani leading, ... plus don't forget Boris Berezovsky, Jorge Bolet, Claudio Arrau, Josef Bulva, Alfred Brendel, Julius Katchen, Arnoldo Cohen, and Claire Marie Le Guay on French Accord import. Oh, keyboard wizard Kemal Gekic with veteran Paul Freeman leading a Czech band.

If we want stellar performances of the first concerto only, we must add Artur Rubinstein, Martha Argerich, Earl Wild, Yundi Li, and two underground sleepers - Santiago Rodriguez, and Vardan Mamikonian.

The good news is that Eldar Nebolsin and Vasily Petrenko with Liverpool can really hold their own against the competition, plentiful as it is. All involved offer up buckets of typical Lisztian bravura, fire, and contrast. Tempos are mainstream, and well-judged throughout. (I hope Naxos issues this one in super audio, along with the Sherbakov Tchaikovsky second piano concerto?) Nebolsin is serving up more than fiery gesture, however. He seems to have an etched intellectual touch in these works that often reminds this listener of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, without in the slightest becoming mannered or eccentric. So Nebolsin casts an unexpectedly intense modern light on this music at the same time he burns up the Lisztian keyboard with traditional athletic prowess.

This mix of hot Romance and modern clarity helps raise the Totentanz to higher levels. And the band under Petrenko is with Nebolsin every step of the way in the Totentanz. For once, its Dies Irae variations do not tire, nor wear out their musical welcome with overdone hothouse fervor. Nebolsin and Petrenko seem to be channeling Slavic passion as well as that sort of uncanny cosmic humanist intellect we associate in literature with, say, Tolstoy, Pushking, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Yevtushenko, and Solzhenitsyn.

Gee, I guess this new Naxos release is really something after all, even compared to a football field of worthy competitors still available in the catalog. Top-notch among the Naxos achievements so far, then. Super audio, Naxos?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average, March 20, 2011

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The truth and nothing but (The High Peak, in the United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Totentanz (Audio CD)

Liszt's Piano Concertos present much opportunity for sonic and musical fireworks. Very much in Liszt's own piano playing style, they demand bravura, excitement and complete commitment. Naxos has filled out this disc with the demonic Totentanz which is very much in the same mould.

Performance: 3

The whole adventure feels like it is drifting - just as another reviewer describes. The performance is very underpowered. This is particularly so of the brass who consistently refuse to rip into that distinctly Lisztian writing. One should feel the resemblance to some of the showpiece orchestral works, but this is never the case. Indeed, everyone concerned seems to downplay these works. The only exception to this is some radiant solo cello playing in the Second Concerto. It is quite evident overall that the RLPO is not on top form. There is even some indiscipline in the strings; their playing being sometimes uneven in tone and ensemble. This is mostly apparent in the violins. The RLPO are capable of much more than this and a prime example would be their recording of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony under the same conductor.

The pianist is also quite sedate. Despite some reasonably good playing and a sunny tone, Nebolsin refuses to play up Liszt's score in the manner one would expect. The playing often feels un-virtuosic. It certainly doesn't capture the imagination. Fortunately, the performance on the whole picks up in Totentanz, but we should still expect more.

Sound: 3.5

It isn't bad. It isn't great. The sound is very detailed and has good clarity. This is coupled with a well captured sound image and the cleanly caught characteristics of Liverpool's Philharmonic hall. Unfortunately, there is much less bloom and body in the sound than we would hope for. In general, the sound feels somewhat straight jacketed. This is certainly not Naxos' worst sound but of modern recording we expect better.

Interpretation: 3

Petrenko appears uninvolved, which is unusual for him. This is a much uninspired reading of accompaniment. The big, brazen tunes are rather smoothed over or at least not delivered with intensity of excitement. This is again surprising when one considers Petrenko's recording of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. As said, Nebolsin is also distinctly un-Liszt-like at the piano. Where is the showmanship, the excitement and adrenalin? Where is the depth and breadth of expression?

The advice is clear: look elsewhere for the best Liszt Concertos. This doesn't need to be completely disregarded; it does have some good musical qualities.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clean, assured execution, but not nearly among the greats, December 25, 2008

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2; Totentanz (Audio CD)

The previous reviewer echoes a recent Gramophone rave for this CD, which claimed (incorrectly) that this was Naxos' first venture into the Liszt concertos and (incredibly) that Eldar Nebolsin, a 35-year-old Uzbeki pianist who later studied in Madrid, could be favorably compared to Richter in this repertoire. That's as much as claiming that Nebolsin is the second coming. He isn't, but he's not a cookie-cutter competiiton winner, either. His clean, assured technique is backed up with considerable musicality. The same can be said for Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool orchestra -- but hardly anyone tunes in to Liszt's concertos for the accompaniment. In both cases, there's a certain lack of tension and coherence when the music becomes lyrical, a droping off into politeness.

If you want a budget account of these three warhorses in very good, updated sonics, with especially powerful rendering of piano sound, this is a competitive CD, yet another sign that Naxos has raised its standards far above its early years. But let's face it, there's nothing left in these hollow Lisztian vessels except the thrill of hearing bravura playing at its most incendiary -- the calmer parts of the two concertos idle along until the next cascade of notes is ready to be fired off -- and the eminent virtuosity of Argerich and Richter is not in evidence here.