Liszt - Années de Pèlerinage

[North Star]

Just reporting this as I stumbled on it on Amazon, maybe someone will be interested...

[Karl Henning]

Just reporting this as I stumbled on it on Amazon, maybe someone will be interested...

Cool.

[Todd]

Just reporting this as I stumbled on it on Amazon, maybe someone will be interested...

Well played, but a bit colorless.  Her complete Szymanowksi is of more relative interest, I think.

[North Star]

Well played, but a bit colorless.  Her complete Szymanowksi is of more relative interest, I think.

Cheers.

[Todd]

Edith Farnadi's complete recording of Annees is available as a free MP3 download here..  It's low res, but I think I'll give it a shot given the price.

[71 dB]

Louis Lortie on Chandos has got amazing sonics. It's probably the best recorded solo piano disc in my collection. 

[Todd]

[This will be cross-posted in The Italian Invasion]

Enrico Pace's sole solo commercial studio recording to date.  (There's an early solo recording of the Liszt Sonata, Dante Sonata, and Réminiscences de Don Juan, but that was for publication promotion purposes.)  That the 1989 Liszt International Piano Competition winner might have some affinity for Liszt isn't so surprising, and given that Pace has provided world-class piano accompaniment in world-class recordings of core chamber music rep, it is not surprising that this recording ends up sounding swell. 

Pace's way is not one of hypervirtuosic bombast; rather, his way is more lyrical and poetic.  That's not to say Pace cannot play the music with the necessary executive brilliance, because he can and does.  He just focuses on other things.  He'll lovingly attend to each note in some arpeggios, weighting them all equally on occasion, making them sound more important and longer than other takes, though they are not.  He'll lavish attention on upper register playing, with some sounding crystalline and pure.  He'll deliver some of the most beautiful and tender pianissimo playing, as in Les cloches de Geneve, where one can envision Liszt wanting to transcribe the experience of hearing gently tolling distant bells one particularly lovely morning with Marie d'Agoult by his side.  He'll produce rich and weighty lower register playing without drowning out higher registers.  In Eclogue, he creates a dazzling effect with light but insistent and steady left hand playing providing a foundation for the beautiful right hand melodies in a way I've not heard before. 

The pianistic and interpretive goodness carries over to year two.  Each piece is fully characterized, and Pace plays with unique but not overbearing personal touches.  Could some phrases be less clipped in Il Penseroso?  Undoubtedly.  I might like the result more than this, or I might not.  The Petrarch Sonnets are wonderfully poetic and flowing.  Pace doesn't quite play with the same type of delicate and wide-ranging pianism as Julian Gorus, but the aesthetic impact of his playing is similar, and the beauty undeniable.  The Dante is swift and dramatic and large-scale enough to more than satisfy, and if even more powerful versions are out there, there may not be better ones.

It's a pity that Pace did not record the whole set - indeed, he didn't even record Venezia e Napoli.   This is absolutely wonderful Liszt playing, and had Pace included the final year, this might be the Années to own.  At the very least, this stands alongside Rubackytė, Chamayou, Gorus, and Schirmer. 

Sound is fully modern, but dynamic range is not SOTA.

[Todd]

Thanks to Jeff Bezos, or whichever executive or committee came up with the Add-on program for Amazon, because the program saved me some money on this one.  Florian Krumpöck's Liszt year release of the first two years of Années de pèlerinage, sans Venezia e Napoli, ended up not being worth full price.  To be sure, it does have some attractions.  Chief among them is the use of a Blüthner, which lends a different sound to the playing.  The middle and upper registers have different overtones, and sound more resonant, than Steinways, and can lend a bit of color.  Krumpöck plays the first two years in broad fasion, at about an hour each, and sometimes his broader tempi really take advantage of the decay characteristics of the instrument.  But sometimes the music sags, and it has nothing to do with tempo, per se.  Both Nicholas Angelich and Julian Gorus take their time, too, but they are more flexible with specific tempo choices and play with broader dynamic range to create both delicate and thunderous effects.  It's not that Krumpöck is at all bad, or that some of his ideas don't work - eg, the very slow Il penseroso, with its tolling bass and near-funeral march feel is magnificent, and though a bit too long overall, the Dante Sonata is satisfyingly large in scale and quasi-orchestral, making me think Krumpöck might make a good pianist in a piano & organ duo - it's just that taken as a whole, it doesn't work as well for me as other recordings. 

[Todd]

I figured it was about time to listen to the first complete Annees, namely Edith Farnadi's 1950s traversal on Westminster.  This particular transfer was made from LPs and has the surface noise and distortion to prove it, though ultimately sound quality is acceptable.  The recording is available as free MP3s using the above link, and many Farnadi recordings are available for free on YouTube, including at least the Suisse year from this set.  Farnadi, like Clidat, likes to rush through a lot of the music.  (The first year comes in at under forty minutes.)  Fortunately, she sounds better than Clidat overall and some of the playing is quite nice.  Unfortunately, she often rushes too much for her own good.  Depending on taste, that point may arrive in the latter part of Chapelle de Guillaume Tell, and it is hard for me to see that point arriving any later than Au lac de Wallenstadt, though fans of super-speedy Liszt may like it just fine.  In her rushed playing, she pushes beyond her ability to play with absolute or even significant control.  No one could ever confuse her with Cziffra.  In the second year, the Petrarch Sonnets sometimes succumb to unnecessarily rushed playing that ruins the effect, though Sonnet 123 is very nice.  The Dante Sonata comes in at a peppy 14'48", and some of the playing sounds less than ideally secure and the ancient sound limits dynamics, so the dramatic sweep of the piece is blunted.  In the third year, Farnadi displays a soft, warm touch in the right hand playing, aided no doubt by the LP source, even if it does not flow as well as other versions.  Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este has some lovely movements, but just doesn't sound secure enough, while the darker pieces like Marche funèbre suffer from limited LP dynamic range and a soft bass (with the MP3 format probably also contributing).  The third year comes off as pretty good.  Overall, with the rushed playing and the occasional lack of secure playing, and a decided lack of either poetry or effective virtuosic pizazz, this just ain't one of the primo sets.  I'm still glad to have heard it.  If it is reissued in proper full range sound at a bargain price (<$10), I might buy a proper copy.

[Todd]

Jeffrey Swann's recording of the Années is more about the flash and less about the poetry.  Swann plays fast throughout the whole set, bringing pieces in at below average timings across the board.  While Swann has the technical wherewithal to pull off his conceptions, his conceptions don't always satisfy.  In Suisse, one needn't listen past Chapelle de Guillaume Tell to hear the sometimes too rushed, too virtuosic by half style.  Swann plays Au lac de Wallenstadt at a fast clip, though here he maintains a bit of a poetic sense.  The Pastorale which follows is just way too fast, though.  Really, it takes until Eclogue to hear playing focused on something other than virtuosity. 

Italie starts off more promising, and even a somewhat too staccato laden Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa works nicely enough.  The three Petrarch Sonnets, while well played and possessing some moments of poetic beauty, especially Sonnet 123, are overall just not what I listen for.  (A honkin' big edit error in 47 doesn't help, either.)  Given Swann's approach, it's not too surprising that the best part of the second year are the Dante Sonata and the Tarantella.  In both, he delivers gobs of virtuosic styling.  The Dante Sonata also has ample tender, poetic playing.  In both cases, and the Tarantella, in particular, Swann shows the artistic risks of going for a more gung-ho approach, because he doesn't match Cziffra, who goes all the way down the path, and does it even better.  Still, there's a good amount to enjoy here.

In the third year, Swann maintains his penchant for speed and flash, and the magic of the music fades a bit.  The two Aux cyprès pieces are too quickly dispatched, all surface and no depth.  The highlight of the year is Sunt lacrymae rerum, which benefits from the fast style. 

Overall, while there are good moments, the set as a whole just doesn't deliver on the depth and poetry that the music can provide. 

This reissue is available to stream or as an MP3 download.  I went the download route, and sound is perfectly acceptable and sounds just like a late 80s recording. 

[Cato]

Jeffrey Swann's recording of the Années is more about the flash and less about the poetry.  Swann plays fast throughout the whole set, bringing pieces in at below average timings across the board.  While Swann has the technical wherewithal to pull off his conceptions, his conceptions don't always satisfy.  In Suisse, one needn't listen past Chapelle de Guillaume Tell to hear the sometimes too rushed, too virtuosic by half style.  Swann plays Au lac de Wallenstadt at a fast clip, though here he maintains a bit of a poetic sense.  The Pastorale which follows is just way too fast, though.  Really, it takes until Eclogue to hear playing focused on something other than virtuosity. 

Italie starts off more promising, and even a somewhat too staccato laden Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa works nicely enough.  The three Petrarch Sonnets, while well played and possessing some moments of poetic beauty, especially Sonnet 123, are overall just not what I listen for.  (A honkin' big edit error in 47 doesn't help, either.)  Given Swann's approach, it's not too surprising that the best part of the second year are the Dante Sonata and the Tarantella.  In both, he delivers gobs of virtuosic styling.  The Dante Sonata also has ample tender, poetic playing.  In both cases, and the Tarantella, in particular, Swann shows the artistic risks of going for a more gung-ho approach, because he doesn't match Cziffra, who goes all the way down the path, and does it even better.  Still, there's a good amount to enjoy here.

In the third year, Swann maintains his penchant for speed and flash, and the magic of the music fades a bit.  The two Aux cyprès pieces are too quickly dispatched, all surface and no depth.  The highlight of the year is Sunt lacrymae rerum, which benefits from the fast style. 

Overall, while there are good moments, the set as a whole just doesn't deliver on the depth and poetry that the music can provide. 

This reissue is available to stream or as an MP3 download.  I went the download route, and sound is perfectly acceptable and sounds just like a late 80s recording.

Many thanks for the review!

Which recording(s) would you recommend?

[PerfectWagnerite]

Many thanks for the review!

Which recording(s) would you recommend?

I posed the same question to Todd maybe a year or so ago and the recommendations were

[asin]B00016JF4K[/asin]
(if you have $300+)

or
[asin]B004TWOX6M[/asin]

or
[asin]B005CX78GE[/asin]

Both Gorus and Chamayou are free if you have an Amazon Music membership. I have the Gorus and Chamayou and Berman. My favorite (one that I keep listening to, regularly played on my smartphone) is the Chamayou. I think he brings a lot of different colors and styles to the music. Gorus is more grand and overwhelming and is very different. Berman doesn't strike me as being as well done but just my opinion.
The discussion thread here:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,11592.5560.html
(if you scroll maybe 40% down, also some good stuff on the previous page of that link).

[Todd]

Add Ragna Schirmer for a complete set and Enrico Pace for years 1 & 2 only to those PerfectWagnerite listed, and those are the best ones to my taste.  The Gorus is regularly available on the cheap.

[amw]

My personal pick would be Cziffra simply for the quality of the pianism, which I know Todd was unimpressed by. I listen to a lot of Cziffra I guess. I also have & appreciate the Schirmer (especially since she autographed my copy, and gave me recommendations on her favourite pieces, which are mostly in Year 3)

[Todd]

My personal pick would be Cziffra simply for the quality of the pianism, which I know Todd was unimpressed by. I listen to a lot of Cziffra I guess. I also have & appreciate the Schirmer (especially since she autographed my copy, and gave me recommendations on her favourite pieces, which are mostly in Year 3)

It depends on what you mean by pianism.  In terms of virtuosity, he is second to none.  In terms of poetry (very hazily defined), he sometimes seems a bit lacking.

What are Schirmer's favorite pieces, if you don't mind my asking?  This will set me on a mission to listen to them.

[amw]

From what I recall she highlighted Angelus, one of the Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este pieces, & Sunt lacrymae rerum, and at least one other one I don't remember. The more "religious" pieces seemed to be her favourites, or at least the ones she wanted to point out to a listener who'd at the time never heard the Années before.

[Todd]

From what I recall she highlighted Angelus, one of the Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este pieces, & Sunt lacrymae rerum, and at least one other one I don't remember. The more "religious" pieces seemed to be her favourites, or at least the ones she wanted to point out to a listener who'd at the time never heard the Années before.

I'll listen to her entire recording of the third year, just to be safe.  A price I'm willing to pay.

[Mandryka]

My personal pick would be Cziffra simply for the quality of the pianism, which I know Todd was unimpressed by. I listen to a lot of Cziffra I guess. I also have & appreciate the Schirmer (especially since she autographed my copy, and gave me recommendations on her favourite pieces, which are mostly in Year 3)

Have you heard Jerome Lowenthal?

[Mandryka]

I'll put this here even though it's not about Années de Pèlerinage -- this is a rather entertaining programme by Philippe Cassard on Arrau, in particular how Arrau played Liszt -- Cassard waxes lyrical .

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/portraits-de-famille/claudio-arrau-joue-liszt-12449

[amw]

Have you heard Jerome Lowenthal?

I have not. (The only other versions I know well enough to comment on are Daniel Grimwood on an Erard & Chamayou & Bolet.) What's special about it?