Customer Reviews

Van Cliburn: My Favorite Liszt

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Van Cliburn, who in 1958 became as much of a celebrity as Elvis, is one of the world's greatest ever pianists. I have never heard anyone play Liszt with so much gravity and understanding. Part of this may be because Van Cliburn's hands are so enormous, nearly as large as Liszt's.

This recording of the Sonata is a must-have. The first eerie notes are played with spine-tingling anticipation, then comes the climatic theme, with technical stunts to make your head swim. Mr. Cliburn comes through it all without an error and with an astonishing amount of passion and fire. The songs fades away eerily, just as it began.

Un Sospiro is one of my favorite pieces ever, and Van Cliburn plays it marvelously. The melody is split between the two hands, which causes the left to have to cross over the right often and very quickly, but the melody remains very even and so lyrical it brings tears to the eyes. Van Cliburn is the only pianist to date who has been able to make me cry with the sheer beauty of his sound, and it is undoubtedly his legendary, singing approach to the keys.

All of the other pieces on the CD are simply marvelous, and the wild, swirling Mephisto Waltz provides a fitting end to this stunning CD. Encore!

I was never a fan of Van Cliburn's playing. I have always been interested in the by-ways of piano literature, e.g., Alkan, Scriabin, Mednter, and Sorabji. Hence, pianists such as Horowitz, Hamelin, and Powell I find appealing not only in their technique but also in their choice of overlooked but really good repertoire that has suffered neglect due to the 'standards' of piano performance, i.e., that which is most easily accessible to the public (unfortunately, public consumption [and attention spans] have largely determined what piano music will be recorded). Van Cliburn was one such pianist; chopin, brahms, beethoven, rachmaninoff, debussy, etc., much of it good music, but recorded to death to the neglect of equally good, but different music. At any rate, I was hesitant to purchase Van Cliburn's Liszt CD. I played it and was surprised. His Chopic CD had sounded mechanical to me, but this Liszt CD is actually very very good. I imagined his performance of the Liszt B minor sonata to be dry, dull, and boring. It was anything but. It is definitely a unique recording of the Bm sonata, one that can be listened to over and over again along with Pollini, Zimerman, Nojima, and Demidenko. He shapes the dimensions of the sonata very well and has a very good control of its sonorities. His performance of Un Sospiro cannot equal Hamelin but it is, nonetheless, an excellent performance that stands on its own. The Mephisto Waltz was another surprise: Van Cliburn plays it to the hilt. I have heard more breath-taking versions, e.g., Horowitz, Sgouros, and Wild. But Cliburn's measures up. He adds flourishes at the end that are effective and in no way take away from the piece but rather add to the spirit of the waltz. I would recommend this CD highly.

A classical music critic/writer Harvey E. Philips once asked, "Was Liszt but the best of the brilliant Romantic virtuosi?" And I ask, is Van Cliburn the best of the brilliant interpreters of Liszt's masterpieces? I say the affirmative to both questions, no doubt about it.

Franz Liszt was one of my top favorite masters of classical music whose profound compositions are masterpieces of beauty and style. One of his most notable pieces and one of the highlights in this set is "Sonata in B Minor" which was written in 1852 through 1853 at the peak of his composing artistry. On this piece, his exceptional talent in writing music was used to its full advantage. Wagner once described it as "beyond all conception beautiful, great, lovely, deep and noble, sublime." His words mirror my thoughts on this deep and powerful piece of music. To me, it is one of the top five most ingenious compositions of all music eras from Baroque to Modern; the others are Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18," Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat Minor, Op. 23," Chopin's "Polonaise In A Flat Minor, Op. 53" and Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue."

Van Cliburn is no stranger to the world of classical music. In 1958 at age twenty-three, he took the world by storm when he won the First Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow that paved the way to his fame. The accolade made him one of the most brilliant pianists the world has ever known.

I always enjoy listening to these masterpieces played to perfection by a pianist extraordinaire who can do justice to any classical composition most especially from the pens of Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Debussy and of course Liszt. And one thing I loved about this album, "My Favorite Liszt," is the material which is very impressive. These pieces were tastefully selected by Van Cliburn as his own personal favorites--surprisingly, these are also my top choices from all of Liszt's compositions.

The three sublime charmers from the repertoire include "Consolation No. 3," "Un Suspiro" and "Liebestraum No. 3." These pieces are among my top ten classical favorites.

What better way to appreciate Liszt's works of art than listening to Van Cliburn's renditions? I wholeheartedly recommend it as well as his other remarkable albums: "My Favorite Debussy," "My Favorite Chopin," "Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2" and "The World's Favorite Piano Music."

"The music is in the air. Take as much as you want." ~ Sir Edward Elgar ~

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When I was a serious student of the piano back in the 1970's and 80's I was discouraged from admitting that I liked Cliburn's playing. Cliburn was viewed by the cogniscenti as a pianist unjustly thrust into the limelight through his spectacular achievement of having won the Tchaikovsky competition. Our celebration of his accomplishment, they argued, was more political than it was musical. I remember my piano teacher telling me that Cliburn was far behind many of his peers because he only had a limited repertoire. He achieved major success while knowing just a few concertos. Moreover, he apparently had some personal struggles after his success that affected his ability to perform.

I reviewed elsewhere on this website Cliburn's recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 recorded shortly after that victory in Moscow. I maintain that the seriously discerning Russian audience knew greatness when they heard it and that Cliburn deserved the accolades that he received. Apparently, no less a luminary than Sviatoslav Richter agreed. Richter was one of the jurists for that competition and he very quickly identified Cliburn as the only acceptable prizewinner, eliminating every other contestant.

Some have argued, however, that the period from which this Liszt recording was taken found Cliburn less consistently great. I cannot disagree, but this Liszt recording deserves to be placed alongside the best of Cliburn's output, which for me includes that famous Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto recording, his Rach 3 -- also recorded shortly after the competition -- and his recording of Samuel Barber's Piano Sonata and Prokofiev's Sixth Piano Sonata. I might also include his recording of Rach 2 and his recording of Chopin's Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3 though I'm sure some would disagree.

I will focus my attention on the Liszt Sonata which is the first track on this CD and the primary work. This is a "must hear" recording, especially if you are familiar with the Liszt Sonata through from such well known performances as the early one by Horowitz or Argerich. Cliburn is completely dedicated to lyricism at every point. He consistently directs the ear to the major themes, motifs and melodies. This performance sings like no other. He does not allow the listener to get lost in complicated passage work, as tempting as it might be to demonstrate how much else is going on. Every aspect is harnessed to musical ends and, for Cliburn, cantabile is the goal. He achieves it beautifully. This recording is absolutely memorable and you will come back to it again, and again.

I am in complete agreement with another reviewer who listed Gilels' performance, along with Cliburn's, as the one to reach for. I would now add Stephen Hough's recent offering. These performances are such a welcome counterweight to the more common tendency to use the Liszt Sonata as a vehicle for technical showmanship. Cliburn (as well as Gilels and Hough) plays flawlessly but they have so much more to say than what you hear in the more typical performance. Even the celebrated performance by Zimerman, for example, becomes much less interesting after comparing it to this Cliburn recording, in my opinion.

If you do not have this recording of the Liszt Sonata, and if the Liszt Sonata is important enough to you to have more than one recording, then I strongly urge you to add this performance to your collection. Please let me know if you end up disagreeing with me.

Rising Chinese whiz kids like to play Liszt, because they can dazzle us without really worrying overly much about musical values. For much the same reason, this Liszt compilation from the Seventies does well by Van Cliburn. After he became a culture hero of the Cold War by bringing home the gold from the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958, Cliburn led a double life, musically speaking. to a generation of worshipful fans he was a can-do-no-wrong artist, and RCA milked his popularity with mega-selling recordings. But serious music lovers and critics sniffed around him and found the musicality one-dimensional and at times callow. The marvel that a virtuoso could emerge from Texas, with a background that seemed like any American kid taking piano lessons from an old lady, had the serious drawback that he turned into an outsider, divorced from the mainstream of musical culture.

His isolation makes for some painful moments when Cliburn plays Beethoven sonatas - he almost always comes off best in big concertos - and real poetry is usually not within reach, which results in some stiff Chopin. but Liszt's music is about bravura technique and star power, which finds Cliburn on firm ground. He is too direct and plain in is interpretations to exhibit the one-of-a-kind charisma of a Horowitz or Richter, but this reading of the B minor sonata strides confidently, and the virtuosic side ins highly enjoyable. I found a good summing up, from an otherwise positive review, of what is lacking here: "I miss Richter's delicacy in the introspective sections, Argerich's febrile mood swings, Cortot's battle-scarred sound world, the stinging tautness of Fleisher, Curzon, and Howard, plus Arrau's spiritual breadth." subtract all of that, and Cliburn still manages to survive.

"Un sospiro" and the three Consolations that follow are also convincing, but the Petrarch Sonnet no. 123 is too loosely formed and poetic for Cliburn's straight-ahead approach; it feels as if he is reading from sheet music. We end more happily with the gaudy Mephisto Waltz no. 1, taken at a brazen clip. It's true that William Kapell was more electrifying, and that a crop of fledgling competition winners today can toss of this knuckle-cruncher before breakfast, but Cliburn still manages a special kind of dazzlement. One is reminded that Richter, who vigorously plumped for the upstart American over all the Russians at the Tchaikovsky competition, knew what he was doing.

Although Ive enjoyed both reviews of Mr.Cliburns Liszt. I feel a close affinity towards the Music "fan" and his review! I agree totally with ALL of his comments! This is Liszt in the Major League! Vans performance is the perfect match for the ULTIMATE SONATA of them all! In my opinion the most technically demanding and most lyrically serene of ANYTHING ever composed for the Pianoforte! I have over 20 CDs of the b minor and in my PERSONAL opinion Cliburn and Gilels are the peak of the tip of the Pyramid of all pyramids! In laymens terms they both have that unique element of reserve that holds the texture of the Sonata in the overall "birdseye view" (in other words a coherent cohesive well put together performance) rather than getting disoriented and out of control like so many of the other recordings! Well id like to claim a "little" bit more than Armchair Expert on this work! In the year 2011 Im turning 64 yrs.young so please keep an eye on the web and CNN for me Its a green light!!!! Ill be competing in THE VANCLIBURN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION FOR PIANISTS AGE 35 and over and yes Van and the Jury panel members are asking for 30 minutes in the finals so I will be performing the Liszt b minor sonata! I need to be included in all of your prayers! Its hard to imagine "lil olde me" Walking out to all those people and jury members and the Lisztian giant of all giants! VanCliburn himself!! Vans CD never comes out of my Bose and thanks to all of you for reading this review! may you treasure love and most of all ENJOY this digitally remastered masterpiece for the rest of your lives! Dr.Robert P.Balaban (Chiropractor}-pianist-Int.chessplayer and most of all a FRIEND!