LISZT Transcriptions from Opera by Auber and Verdi (Wai Yin Wong)

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Franz Liszt

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Naxos

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 76

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: 8 573714

8 573714. LISZT Transcriptions from Opera by Auber and Verdi (Wai Yin Wong)

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Tarantelle di bravura d'après la tarantella de La muette de Portici (Auber's Masaniello) Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Wai Yin Wong, Piano
(I) Lombardi (Verdi) Salve Maria de Jérusalem Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Wai Yin Wong, Piano
(3) Auber pieces, Movement: No 1 Introduction Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Wai Yin Wong, Piano
(3) Auber pieces, Movement: No 2 Cavatine Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Wai Yin Wong, Piano
Ernani - Première paraphrase de concert (Verdi) Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Grande fantasie sur la tyrolienne de `La fiancée Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer
Wai Yin Wong, Piano
When faced with a body of work as prodigious as Liszt’s piano music, a lexicographic approach must be tempting. In this 52nd volume of Naxos’s complete series, we are confronted with two versions, back to back, of the Tarantella from La muette de Portici, along with the Prayer and Cavatina from the same opera, and three versions of the Tyrolean melody from La fiancée, all based on Auber. Leavening is provided by one of the two settings of the Salve Maria from Jérusalem (the French version of I Lombardi) and one of the Concert Paraphrases on Ernani, based on Verdi.

Compensation for this rather stultifying programming is the excellent piano-playing of Wai Yin Wong. Following studies in her native Hong Kong, Wong did postgraduate work in the US at Peabody and Yale. If a greater sense of drama might be brought to these performances, Wong’s clarity, innate musicality and technical mastery are nonetheless impressive.

Alongside Leslie Howard’s capacious Liszt series on Hyperion, the Naxos project of recording all the piano music with various pianists is a worthy one. Thus far the Naxos Complete Piano Works contains some indisputable gems. With significant stretches of repertoire still outstanding, the series could profit by more stringent and discerning programming. Liszt’s transcriptions and fantasies form a unique realm of 19th-century piano music, both in quality and quantity, one which has been historically under-recorded. Surely they warrant the sort of imaginative programming oversight that will show them in their best light.

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