The two discs comprising Vol. 21 of Howard's mammoth cycle remind us of the young Liszt's love affair with Italy, the spotlight now falling primarily—though not exclusively—on frolics with Rossini, Mercadante and Donizetti in lighter, lyrical vein. Liszt was still only 25, and at the height of his virtuoso career, when in 1836 he completed his two demonstratively brilliant fantaisies on themes from Rossini's so very recently published Soirees musicales with which this album ends. Nevertheless, I found infinitely more to enjoy in the comparatively simple and straightforward transcriptions he made in 1837 of those 12 endearingly tuneful songs and duets, initially intended by Rossini for the relaxed evening entertainment—as the title suggests—of his friends. The six similarly intended Mercadante transcriptions emerging in 1838 as Liszt's Soirees italiennes often struck me as over-elaborate, as if he were trying to compensate for relatively undistinguished material by mere pianistic diversion. But the three Donizetti transcriptions (Nuits d'ete a Pausilippe) with which he quickly completed this later set are wholly irresistible in seductive charm and grace.
The special interest of the two original sets of pieces included, i.e. the three Sonetti del Petrarca and the four Venezia e Napoli, is that Howard introduces them as first written (c. 1839 and 1840 respectively) before Liszt's characteristically painstaking later revisions. The Sonetti del Petrarca, of course, had originally emerged as songs (also subsequently recast for lower voice) and Howard helpfully includes their texts in his own discerning insert-notes to enhance enjoyment. While throughout all changes retaining their richly sensuous harmony as well as beauty of line, how very much more eloquently and potently they speak when re-emerging, less opulently upholstered in texture, in the second Italian book of the Annees de pelerinage-–yet to come from Howard in some later volume in his cycle.
There is much to enjoy in the playing itself, especially in simpler contexts when gondolas glide through calm waters, or lovers dream, or shepherds dance. Melody, so important throughout, is nicely sung. And whether in filigree delicacy or exuberant zest (as in excitable Venetian regattas) Howard invariably relishes Liszt's ear-catching ornamentation. It would surely be churlish to complain of less than effortless elegance when the composer himself throws in a superfluity of notes.'