Customer Reviews

Wild About Liszt

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To commemorate the centenary of the death of Franz Liszt in 1986, the great American pianist Earl Wild performed a series of three synoptic all-Liszt concerts. Wild called the programs "Liszt the Poet," "Liszt the Transcriber," and "Liszt the Virtuoso." Wild's performances of the music from those historic Liszt recitals have been available on CD for quite some time.

But now we have extraordinary news: In July of 1986, Wild was invited by the 9th Marquess of Londonderry, an ardent Liszt devotee, to perform all three recitals at his ancestral home in northern England -- where Wild's performances were videotaped! Those tapes were recently transferred to DVD, and this handsomely packaged 2-DVD set is now available for the first time. The set, suitably called "Wild About Liszt," also contains absorbing bonus material, including several illuminating interviews. Two of them are especially worth noting: Wild's witty interview with the widely respected piano authority, Donald Manildi in 2003 at the Mannes School International Keyboard Festival; the other for Dutch TV in 2005, that was done in connection with the recital Wild gave to celebrate his 90th birthday at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam -- a concert that twice elicited an outpouring of critical raves for the nonagenarian, because soon after the triumphant Amsterdam recital Wild repeated the program at Carnegie Hall.

It is generally accepted as a given, and it is confirmed here, that Wild ranks among the greatest of Liszt players. And it is wonderful to report that the DVDs are first-rate. In fact, they're a piano-lover's dream: for a single stationary camera placed in the center aisle gives us Wild waist up from the side, with his omnipotent fingers and the keyboard always clearly visible -- there are none of those distracting breakaways from the pianist's hands to show him gazing raptly at the heavens (though Wild has never condescended to mugging for an audience in any event). If the sound doesn't measure up to the highest demands of a zealous audiophile -- that is, let's say, to the lofty standards of Ivory Classics, the label with which Wild has become identified -- it is still remarkably good. Especially if we remember that these live performances were filmed not in a studio or in an acoustically tailored concert hall, but rather in a statue gallery that was used as a salon at a private estate. The point will quickly become moot to serious lovers of great piano playing, whose ears will immediately respond to the power and beauty of Wild's playing, just as music lovers of the past were able to hear beyond the limits of the recording technologies of their time.

There have been quite a few great Liszt players in the modern era, among them Brendel, Cziffra, Horowitz, Richter, Bolet, Arrau, Berman, and more recently Stephen Hough. None has been greater or more consistently satisfying than Earl Wild, who is himself a keyboard Poet (listen to his recording of the complete Chopin nocturnes or to his arrangements of Rachmaninov songs for solo piano, which often surpass the originals in beauty), a Transcriber (try his Grammy Award-winning CD "Earl Wild: Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions" or his scintillating Gershwin arrangements) and, of course, Wild is a great Virtuoso (hear his sizzling Brahms' "Paganini Variations" or his breathtaking performance of Leopold Godowsky's finger-twisting show-stopper "Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes from Johann Strauss's `Artist's Life'," with its many contrapuntal voices, shifting chromatic harmonies and labyrinthine technical complexities). Fortunately, most of Wild's remarkably extensive, incredibly rich discography is available at the pianist's website -- [...]

If you love Liszt, you'll be wild about Wild.

Here are the chapter listings:

Liszt the Poet
Ballade No. 2 in B minor
Les Jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este
Fantasia quasi Sonata (Dante Sonata)
Les Funerailles
Sonetto del Petraraca Nos. 47, 104, 123
Valse Oubliee No. 1
Mephisto Polka
Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Encore: Respighi - Notturno

Liszt the Transcriber
Bach/Liszt: Fantasia & Fugue in G minor
Beethoven/Liszt: Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 21
Verdi/Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase
Schumann/Liszt: Widmung, Fruhlingsnacht
Chopin/Liszt: Mes Joies
Liszt/Liszt: Die Lorely
Wagner/Liszt: Spinning Song from "The Flying Dutchman"
Paganini/Liszt: Etude No. 2 (La Capricciosa),
Paganini/Liszt: No. 5 (La Chasse),
Paganini/Liszt: No. 3 (La Campanella)
Encore: Chopin/Wild - Larghetto from Piano Concerto No. 2

Liszt the Virtuoso
Polonaise No. 2 in E major
Sonata in B minor

Three Etudes de Concert:
La Leggierezza,
Un Sospiro,
Gnomenreigen

This is a superb DVD set in terms of its content - three very full recitals of a master pianist presenting many of the best known pieces of Liszt. The previous review of the disk gives a good sense of the content of the disks -- i.e., recitals in a small concert setiing in one of the great homes of England, along with some fine documentary material (including excerpts of Earl Wilds at 90(!)).

This is one those DVD sets (a great bargain for all of its quality content) that deserves six stars but I pull it back to five stars (merely extraordinary) for two reasons. The first is the generla lack of documentation about the content of the program -- there is no list of what Wild played in each program, though the booklet says (for example) that he played a transcription of a Beethoven symphony without identifying the symphony. This is compounded by the fact that that each of the three recitals is presented as one track with no cueing for individual pieces. The only hint of what is being played is a quick flash of a listing of a line of program booklet as you play through the DVD. It is a shame that there is not better tracking, in that you can spend a very long time holding the fast forward button to get to a particualr piece (once you know what the program is), only to have go back a bit to get to the beginning of a piece. This seems to be a major oversight that mars an otherwise outstanding set.

As noted in the previous review, the visuals of the concerts are quite good. Generally a well focused camera on the pianist that allows you to watch him at a reasonable distance while still seeing his hands clearly to see how he actually makes his way through these (sometimes fiendishly difficult) pieces. One thing that impresses me about Wild is his generally staid manner at the keyboard. He sits quite still with little swaying, hands generally close to the keyboard, and has none of the mugging and miming that you see in many pianists (who also give swooning looks to the heaven).

A great set of concerts here (also available of CD). It is just a shame and well worth noting that the producers of the DVD didn't see the need for an overall program listing and also tracking on the DVDs to get to individual pieces.

I've always adored Earl Wild. After going through this extraordinary compendium of sight and sound, I love him a hundred times more. Yes, he deserved a far better piano for the historic 1986 recitals at England's Wynyard Park. The DVD booklet warns that the piano, shipped in from London, was not ideally adjusted. The documentary proves that the piano was at least tuned, although it didn't seem to hold the tuning very well in the late-July heat. I get the sense that Wild often had to fight the instrument to get something half decent out of it (what a shame that he could not have picked out an instrument in London before it arrived up north). As a result, Wild's playing sometimes goes uncharacteristically choppy. I'm sure that quite a few of the wrong notes can be blamed on the recalcitrant keyboard (like all great musicians, Wild plays his wrong notes the right way, without the slightest perturbation). As the recitals proceed, Wild progressively tames the beast a bit, I think.

Be all that as it may, we are surely much the richer because Tony Gaw (a friend of Lord Londonderry, owner of Wynyard) thoughtfully preserved this great occasion for us (the final July 30 recital began on the evening before the centennial of Liszt's passing; indeed, in the accompanying documentary Londonderry muses that the recital might even end close to the time of Liszt's death, which therefore must have come not long after midnight on July 31, 1886). I was fortunate to hear this same three-recital sequence (with the addition of the third *Liebestraum* as the opening of "Liszt the Poet") when Wild presented it in Cambridge, Mass., in April and May 1986, so I am thrilled to see that nearly all of it has been preserved.

Many thanks to "South Carolina" for the program details (why did Ivory fail to supply them in the booklet? By the way, the first two recitals, on DVD 1, are properly broken down into individual chapters. The final recital, on DVD 2, is one annoyingly continuous chapter). South Carolina's program for the third recital is incomplete, however. After *Gnomenreigen*, we hear:
- Four of the *Douze études d'exécution transcendante* (12 Transcendental Etudes): 3, 2, 9 & 10
- Three Hungarian Rhapsodies: 12, 4 & 2
- Eugène d'Albert's Scherzo in F#, Op. 16/2 (encore)

Also worth noting: the 1974 BBC interview with Robin Ray contains five complete live performances in studio (on a vastly more responsive and better-recorded Bösendorfer, thank goodness):
- Liszt's *Gnomenreigen*, Sonetto del Petrarca 104, and *La campanella*
- d'Albert's Scherzo in F#
- Chopin's *Grande polonaise* in E-flat, Op. 22

Here and elsewhere, Wild makes a persuasive case for transposing many 19th-century works down by up to a third (in Beethoven's case; more often, by a whole tone) to correct for the relentless rise in concert pitch. He demonstrates his point with Chopin's Op. 25/1 (the "Aeolian Harp" étude) and Op. 25/12 (the "Ocean" étude), playing the opening passages in their "correct" keys before transposing them down a full tone.

Perhaps the set's biggest "Easter egg" pops up in the middle of Wild's 1982 Philadelphia radio interview: a performance of Copland's Piano Concerto, with Copland leading The Symphony of the Air (whose presence necessarily dates the recording to somewhere between 1954 and 1963).

The other video extras feature Wild at the keyboard, but only in snippets. The audio interviews are just as delightful as their video counterparts. Among the many revelations from these extras: Wild began playing Scharwenka's First Piano Concerto when he was 14, so he was more than ready when Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony needed a soloist for their classic 1969 recording. Throughout, Wild is unpretentiously charming and often howlingly funny as he reflects on his extraordinary life (Wild tells several illuminating Toscanini anecdotes and provides direct evidence about Debussy's youthful visit to Spain from Debussy's traveling companion Henry Hornbostel, the principal architect for Carnegie Mellon University, whom Wild met as a 19-year-old student). Lastly, there is a voluminous photo gallery filled with historic and contemporary images about Wynyard Park (you'll need to hit the pause button to take in big texts like those from old newspaper articles).

All in all, this set exploits just about everything a DVD can do with image and sound. It's a fabulous romp and a reference for the ages. I pray that Wild makes it to 100 and beyond with all his wits. What a sorry world we will have when his exuberant spirit takes flight.

The first thing one sees about this 2 disc release on the Amazon website is "800 minutes" [sic] which is not correct. Of interest, the identical set at Amazon-UK shows 390 minutes although if one does the math from the set itself, it calculates to exactly 530 minutes. I'm not being 'picky' here but simply pointing to what is and what isn't in this two disc set. Disc number one, per the DVD listing itself, is 3 hours and 43 minutes; disc two is 3 hours and 3 minutes and the "bonus audio" is 124 minutes or two hours and 4 minutes. Grand total: 530 minutes, thus 'not' the Amazon-US cited 800 minutes nor the Amazon-UK cited 390 minutes.

The three recitals at Wynyard, 1986: It's been said that in Liszt's younger days, he would have TWO pianos on the stage so that when he "wrecked" [sic] the first one via his bravura playing, he could then move to the second one and continue the concert. Unfortunately, it seems that Mr. Wild, at least figuratively, was given that resurrected first, which is to say, Liszt 'wrecked' piano and, speculatively speaking in this conjured scenario, told to make the best of it on what he had to work with ... piano wise!

True enough, even the video itself contains a disclaimer that the piano was not "properly voiced" and here and there on the net one sees all manner of comment a la "it was not an overly technological oriented [read: professional] recording system set-up" or "this was a small mansion recital room versus an acoustically balanced recital hall" but the bottom line becomes the available piano not sounding the way it should sound had it been given the requisite attention it obviously required! This was and is NOT the fault of Mr. Wild but even with the noted disclaimers aside, the poor sound of the piano itself and in some cases sounding out of tune can not be escaped. Perhaps this is the fundamental reason why someone like Krystian Zimerman absolutely insists on using his own piano wherever he plays AND, I'll add at once, at his personal expense! In the DVD, Mr. Wild was given the piano at hand ... but the piano needed work! And it showed or rather made that critical requirement audible.

I play classical piano myself and I don't have to remind any readers who also play either for self enjoyment or indeed professionally and at whatever level of proficiency mind you, that a piano, ANY piano, that is literally begging for the professional tuner will not sound good no matter who is at the keyboard! You 'must' have an instrument that is properly voiced, tuned, et al, or the overall results will be noticed ... quickly! How does one 'compensate' for an 'instrument' that needs help? No amount of keyboard expertise can compensate for a piano that is out of whack and the human ear will immediately detect same even if that listening ear doesn't know zip about the piano or its inner intricacies.

So too and lest any readers erroneously believe I am being critical of Mr. Wild, not a bit of it, I consider the man a living legend and it's the 'piano' I'm commenting about in this particular DVD but which does effect the overall performance! Balancing this comment, note the difference when Mr. Wild performs on other pianos or his own piano at home and hence the 'sound' difference between a piano that is given regular TLC versus one that is not!

I also agree with another reviewer that Mr. Wild is mercifully 'not' a fan of what more than a few folks seem to erroneously interpret as pianist 'feeling' via their overly excessive facial muggings, "eyes to the heavens" , miming, upper torso gymnastics, eye poppings, bench jumping, key bangings, swooning, vocal mutterings, verge of tears kind of thing, et al, and this is indeed refreshing to see, the absence of same where the 'music' gets the 'feeling' versus the music coming in a poor second or in some extreme cases as a veritable after-thought to that of visual 'interpreter' feeling(s).

Lastly, and noting that other reviewers already commented on the lack of DVD progressive scan cueing and no indication of the piece save for the brief list of pieces on the DVD, I found the cost of the two disc set rather pricey although various Amazon vendors offer the set at less cost and/or 'pre-owned' [what ever happened to the word "used" !] sets.


Doc Tony

Because I love Earl Wild's playing of Liszt and because of the rave reviews, I bought this DVD. The sound is worse than the old 78's from my childhood and our home movies were better. I don't understand where these marvelous reviews came from, they must have been about different concerts than the ones on my DVD. I will continue to enjoy Mr. Wild's playing on CDs and I don't recommend anyone waste their money on these DVDs.

Along his prestigious and successful career, Earl Wild demonstrated to proper and strangers, the reason why he was one the few standards of the flaming lions of the keyboard, combining steeled fingering, versatile musicality and vital expression.

His charisma and astonishing musical gifts overpowered and shocked the several musical stages around the world.

Here they are the countless recordings that carve in relief this statement. And this DVD is somehow an additional and forceful evidence.

A terrific musical document for the past, actual and next to come musical generations.

This is the best DVD available in terms of learning and seeing information about Liszt. So the video and audio quality aren't great. So what! I can overlook that because I am so interested in what is being said and the music being played that I soon forget about the video and audio quality. It's very watchable and worth owning. Also, there are interviews with Earl Wild on here and a lot of extras that make this well worth owning. Please support this and buy it today!

I have Cziffra's complete EMI recordings (really my favorite pianist) and Howard's complete Liszt piano music and, not being a fool, I like them very much and listen to them lots. But watching these recitals by Wild made Liszt new and alive to me like never before. The photography is blurry and I never got a good clear look at Wild's face, though his hands were usually what was filmed. The sound (though frankly not studio quality) is very adequate. And the music and performance are beautiful. There is no program contents given on the box, discs or insert (annoying), but the name of each piece is shown before it is played. There is a documentary and 3 or 4 interviews with Wild. I would have preferred just the 3 recitals on one DVD and no extras, but those more curious than I am may like these. I paid $30 for mine (from a seller), and it is well worth the price.

This is a one in a million compilation for Liszt and, for that matter, piano lovers! Audio is not the greatest, but Earl Wild is outstanding in his performances.Even though it is noted that the Steinway was not properly voiced, beautiful music gushes from the piano with this artist!I love this dvd set.I have some Wild dvd's and this is a welcome addition to my collection.The Steinway sound is there and Earl Wild's heart is certainly in his performances on all of the pieces.The interviews are frosting on the cake.