This is of greater interest than Barenboim's previous Liszt LPs. The Performances do not generally compare with, say, David Wilde's of the ''Liebestod'' (HMV HQS1172, 3/69—nla) or Jorge Bolet's of the ''Spinnerlied'' (Ensayo NEL2013, 6/74—nla) for a sense of Lisztian (or Wagnerian) style. But this disc adds several fine pieces to the local catalogue, and ''Elsas Traum'' and ''Lohengrins Verweis'' are beautifully played. It is the ''Liebestod'' which draws attention to the fact that here is not exactly sumptuous recorded sound, for this emerges from the DG studios as much as from Barenboim's hands much reduced in size and intensity. With Wilde, who recorded the piece a second time on Saga SAGA5437 (5/77—nla), or the young Brendel (Turnabout TV34352DS, 1/71—nla), the ''Liebestod'', even though obviously removed from context, is nearly as overwhelming an experience as it can be in the opera house.
Barenboim suggests closer contact with Wagner's idiom and a better appreciation of Liszt's keyboard writing in the ''Ballade'' from Der fliegende Hollander, although the sensitivity displayed in the quiet passages is of a rather standardized kind. (It is a shame, incidentally, that the two Hollander pieces are on opposite sides of the disc.) In the final allegro molto appassionato of the ''Ballade'' Barenboim simply ploughs ahead, virtually without nuances of any sort. A similar case is the Phantasiestuck on themes from Rienzi, which bears no comparison with Wilde's performance (Saga SAGA5405, 1/76—nla). Indeed, the other pianists mentioned here almost lead one, through Liszt's sympathetic insight and pianistic invention, to forget the very strong theatrical associations and to believe that Wagner wrote superb virtuoso keyboard music. But, those two Lohengrin excerpts aside, with Barenboim it seems neither fish nor fowl.'