Thomas Hitzlberger - Liszt & Wagner: Sonatas & Metamorphoses (2007) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Am Grabe Richard Wagners, S. 202
02. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: I. Lento assai
03. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: II. Allegro energico
04. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: III. Grandioso, dolce con grazia
05. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: IV. Andante sostenuto - Quasi adagio
06. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: V. Allegro energico
07. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: VI. Allegro - Più mosso - Stringendo
08. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: VII. Ritenuto accentuato
09. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178: VIII. Andante sostenuto - Allegro
10. La lugubre gondola, S. 200/1
11. Isoldens Liebestod, S. 447
12. La lugubre gondola, S. 200/2
13. Eine Sonate für das Album von Frau M.W., WWV 85
14. R.W. - Venezia, S. 201
15. Sonate in B Minor, S. 178 (Original Ending)


Two illustrious composers, Franz Liszt and his son-in-law Richard Wagner. One great work, Liszt's Sonata in B minor. One instrument, the Steingraeber 'Liszt' piano which Liszt had played a mere month before his death. One unique recording, of rememebrance, homage end metamorphosis.

"This boldly enterprising disc remembers Liszt’s homage to Wagner. Generous to a fault, Liszt basked in Wagner’s genius only to find himself coldly rebuffed by his son-in-law and by other prominent figures of his time. For cautious Clara Schumann the pieces he sent her were “dreadful”, while for the critic Eduard Hanslick the B minor Sonata, a towering masterpiece in the history of music, was the work of a composer who “should be reduced to silence”. For Wagner, the dark-hued prophecies of Liszt’s final years were “completely devoid of meaning”.

Today, it is chastening to recall such blanket incomprehension when Liszt’s courageous experiments fell on deaf ears and were viewed as the products of senility. And Thomas Hitzlberger, who plays his programme on Liszt’s own 1873 Steingraber instrument, writes movingly of Liszt’s despair and a desolation that could have reduced a less resilient man to suicide.

His performances, too, are of an exceptional breadth and seriousness. In the baleful Lugubre gondole Nos 1 and 2 he makes every note tell, and he is very much at the heart of the ever-elusive B minor Sonata. A true rather than flamboyant Lisztian, he would surely be among the first to salute Jorge Bolet’s dictum that “speed is the enemy of excitement”. All these performances are deeply committed and finely recorded." (Gramophone)

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