Liszt 200 - how was it for you?

I have heard enough Liszt all these years, so I decided not to overdo this one. However, I have to state that he is a magnificent and wonderful composer, definitely an amazing one for the piano and a considerable one (particularly for the orchestration) for the symphonic and choral writing. Listening to his Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 (in the Orchestral transcription) in a concert some years ago, I felt I wish I could be a Hungarian to claim this music is "mine". To my surprise, when I mentioned that to a group of people, after the concert, they confessed they felt the same way!..

This year, I rediscovered "Etudes d'execution..." in a great performance by the rather overlooked Ovchinikov in Emi France, the old recordings of the always great Zimmerman in a new double CD on DG and an old fine recording of Thibaudet on Dal Segno.

From the new ones, I found worthy the version of the Concertos with Barenboim/Boulez on DG, a solid recital of J. Moog, (unknown in the rest of Europe but a great figure in Switzerland) on Claves, some very exciting "Annees de Pelerinage" (in excellent  SACD sound) by the ignored Ish-Hurwitz on Turtle and a very interesting recital named "Lectures" by a good newcomer, N. Stavy, on Hortus.

Still, not bad for this year.

Parla

My celebration of the Liszt bicentenary included two small marathons: listening to all the 19 Hungarian rhapsodies (by various pianists rather diverse in time and style, ranging from Alfred Grunfeld to Marc-André Hamelin) and also to all the versions of the B minor sonata I currently have (around 16). In this latter part of my personal Lisztian extravaganza, I was reminded once again of how slipshod a performance by the great Sviatoslav Richter could be on occasion: this rendition was taken from the 1966 Aldeburgh Festival, and even granting it's a live recording, it's surprisingly splashy and inaccurate, with notes splattered about and some which were simply dropped. But you wouldn't know that by reading the CD liner notes...

There are two pieces by Liszt I've listened to more than most others and not just in 2011. One is Harmonies du Soir, one of the 12 "Transcendental Studies" (Richter, if any preference is asked for) , and the other the Hungarian Rhapsody no 6 (Cziffra). I know the latter is considered mere rabble-rousing, but then I'm evidently part of the rabble.

The Faust Symphony is another favourite of mine, ever since I first heard it live in 1982. Subsequently, Beecham hasn't disappointed me - I think it must be in another thread that someone denigrates this symphony.

I've gone back to Liszt just recently, but with no idea that it was an anniversary year! Poor Franz's reputation is always up for a pummeling, and I admit I didn't pay him any serious attention in my earlier listening years.

Listening closely to his orchestral works for perhaps the first time, I'm surprised by how modern he often sounds. His orchestrations are often striking in an astringent way, and his thematic development outside of sonata form was obviously an important innovation. Honestly, much of his stuff would not sound out of place in a concert of mid-20th century Russian music.

My interest was revised by Australian Eloquence's 2 CD set of Solti in the tone poems and Fischer in the Rhapsodies - but be warned! In my set at least, the end of the final rhapsody was irrevocably glitched (the disc looked fine), and the music could not even be extracted using Exact Audio Copy. But then, I think Solti's appeal in this repertoire is probably of short duration, and Fischer's approach was a little too molded for my tastes.

For the concertos, I have various recordings including an Arrau and Davis disc which for some reason my ears find repellent. I get much more pleasure from my bargain disc featuring Goldmann and Gmur. I have a radio recording of Richter and Mrav in one of the concertos; must fish that out.

There is an Amazon reviewer with initials AA who seems very knowledgable on Liszt, except that he takes every opportunity to excoriate Masur, which I think is unwarranted. Masur's EMI Gemini set with the Faust symphony contains many fine things, and I think I will have to get his complete cycle. But I'd also like to get some authentic Hungarian recordings - the samples I've heard of Lehel in the Faust sound terrific (in dated sound), and Ferencsik's recordings also appeal. (Karajan's recordings OTOH I find totally unappealing; too glitzy and lacking in authentic flavour.)

For those looking to hear Liszt's better tone poems, I recommend the lovely Orpheus, Prometheus, and the Two Episode's from Lenau's Faust. Also the Heroide March, whose sparse grimness reminds me of the late/post Soviet symphonists.