Liszt Works for Piano and Orchestra, Volume 3

Lortie’s distinguished series bows out in characteristically eloquent manner

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Liszt

Genre:

Orchestral

Label: Chandos

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 69

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: CHAN9918

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1 Franz Liszt, Composer
(The) Hague Residentie Orchestra
Franz Liszt, Composer
George Pehlivanian, Conductor
Louis Lortie, Piano
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 Franz Liszt, Composer
(The) Hague Residentie Orchestra
Franz Liszt, Composer
George Pehlivanian, Conductor
Louis Lortie, Piano
Concerto Pathètique Franz Liszt, Composer
(The) Hague Residentie Orchestra
Franz Liszt, Composer
George Pehlivanian, Conductor
Louis Lortie, Piano
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (No 3) Franz Liszt, Composer
(The) Hague Residentie Orchestra
Franz Liszt, Composer
George Pehlivanian, Conductor
Louis Lortie, Piano
Volume 3 triumphantly concludes Louis Lortie’s Chandos cycle of Liszt’s works for piano and orchestra. Once again his mastery is as fluent as it is scintillating. Less heart­stopping or intense than his finest rivals in the two concertos (Richter and Zimerman‚ and Argerich in No 1 only) his occasional distance lends enchantment‚ and his aristocratic brilliance brings a special distinction to pages inviting heaviness and theatricality. Listen to him unbending winsomely at 1'24" in the First Concerto or tossing aside the Allegro vivace with an almost winged bravura‚ and at 0'45" in the cadenza from the Second Concerto he shows a poetry and inwardness rarely achieved in such overt showpieces. He does all that is humanly possible with the Third Concerto‚ which received its première in 1990‚ yet even he‚ alive to moments of authentic Lisztian rhetoric‚ can do little to erase one’s sense of music in urgent need of revision. Likewise the Concerto Pathétique‚ judiciously arranged from a variety of sources‚ storms and rants with the sort of self­conscious drama that often came too easily to Liszt; never more so than in the all­guns­blazing Allegro trionfante conclusion. But again‚ the performance is exemplary‚ the recordings of demonstration quality with a sensible rather than spectacular balance‚ and George Pehlivanian and The Hague Residentie Orchestra prove themselves admirable partners‚ even when they are hardly maestoso at the start of the First Concerto. Altogether this has been a most distinguished series.

Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music. 

Stream on Presto Music | Buy from Presto Music

Gramophone Print

  • Print Edition

From £6.67 / month

Subscribe

Gramophone Digital Club

  • Digital Edition
  • Digital Archive
  • Reviews Database
  • Full website access

From £8.75 / month

Subscribe

                              

If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.