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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Behzod Abduraimov plays Prokofiev, Liszt & Saint-Saëns
Behzod Abduraimov (piano) “He doesn’t splash. He doesn’t fake. It’s real” (The Daily Telegraph) The debut recording from the superb young pianist, who, at the age of just eighteen, won a sensational victory in the 2009 London International Piano Competition, with an electrifying performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Behzod Abduraimov is already a mature concert artist who thrills audiences wherever he appears – including an Asian tour with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, where he was dubbed by the press: “The Western Lang Lang”. An extraordinary combination of youthful passion and an astonishing technique gives his performances an irresistible, life-enhancing energy. His Decca Classics debut album showcases his passionate performance style through the concept of Danses diaboliques, including Horowitz’s incredible version of Saint-Saëns/Liszt Danse macabre – wildly virtuosic pieces, which perfectly capture the white-knuckle ride that is Behzod Abduraimov’s style. “. . . thought arose: could this fresh-faced child be a new Horowitz?” (The Independent) “Abduraimov is a young master, that is clear. With luck, time will bring craftier control of musical structures and dynamic shifts...However, he is already well past the point of being brilliant and nothing more. He’s also a player who feels and thinks, and still seems to enjoy performing — a quality not visible in some other young gymnasts of the keys...There’s a big natural talent at work here.” The Times, 8th June 2012 **** “His Danse Macabre has a neurotic, sinister air...and he tackles Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No 6 with both youthful eagerness and maturity. That maturity is even more evident in Liszt's reflective Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude, whose subtle shifts of timing and emphasis he negotiates with apparently effortless command.” The Independent, 9th June 2012 “an artist not only of extraordinary technical ability, but also one with a terrific musical personality and sensibility. Those qualities come through clearly on this disc...there is no doubt that Abduraimov has the right intellectual and digital equipment...The two contrasting Liszt pieces at the end...glowing testimony of a talent that is already compelling and certainly one to watch.” The Telegraph, 28th June 2012 “his debut disc naturally includes plenty that shows off his virtuosity, but music of greater emotional complexity lies at the heart of his programme. Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata, a complex mix of mood, has kaleidoscopic colour, fierce intensity and, notably in that aching slow-movement waltz, genuine soul.” Sunday Times, 1st July 2012 “Here is a good-themed programme from this 20-year-old Uzbek newcomer of 'demonic dances, God and war, combining technical virtuosity with music fireworks'...The First Mephisto Waltz is fast, accurate and powerful but it won't have you on the edge of your seat...No, but he's a new face on the scene with bags of talent whose future will be well worth watching.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2012 “An inventive transcription of Saint-Saens's hackneyed classic allows him to establish immediately his light, transparent touch and immaculately controlled pyrotechnics, while in the middle section he displays a Lisztean grace...La benediction de Dieu is conceived with such refined attention to pace and detail that the poetry is fully released, with the sound possessing a silky sheen.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor
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| |  | Liszt: Reve d'Amour
An incomparably gifted pianist, Liszt was a stunning virtuoso, the creator of the solo recital and the father of modern piano technique, as well as being an intensely spiritual artist and a noble composer. “Liszt is not a pianist, he is a poet, whether he plays his own music or that of others,” Théophile Gautier wrote. The influence of the man who Lamartine called “the king of the piano” on the development of piano music was immense, and his piano music amounted to a passionate overture pointing the way to the future of the art. Liszt considered virtuosity of the kind that makes such a powerful impression in his “Campanella” study (based on one of Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin) or the Mephisto Waltz to be a vital ingredient of the music and not an end in itself. A great admirer of Wagner’s harmonic language, he produced a number of transcriptions of the music of Wagner, which he realised with great brilliance. Liszt took minor orders in 1863, and several of his works – such as Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude, the third piece in the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (a title borrowed from Lamartine) – can be seen as central to his spiritual quest. He could also be lyrical, as in the celebrated Nocturne, which has become better known under the title Liebestraum, and melancholy or intimate, as in the Consolations, which he dedicated to Victor Hugo. As for the Jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este (from the Années de pèlerinage), the extraordinary impressionism of this piece look forward to Ravel’s Jeux d’eau. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Liszt: Piano Sonata
This year, April is Hamelin month at Hyperion; not content with giving us another blockbuster addition to the Romantic Piano Concerto series, the pianist gives us his contribution to the Liszt bicentenary. The Liszt Sonata is undoubtedly one of the peaks of the repertoire, and recordings are suitably copious, but when an artist of Hamelin’s virtuoso pedigree wishes to tackle it no excuse need be made for an additional version. The recital opens with a lesser-known masterwork, the Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H, and for light relief there is Liszt’s scintillating supplement to his Italian Année de Pèlerinage, the three pieces of Venezia e Napoli, but perhaps the emotional core of the recital is Liszt’s intensely spiritual Bénédiction du Dieu dans la solitude. This is a major Liszt recital from one of today’s most admired recording artists. “If you plan to buy a Liszt piano CD during the composer’s bicentenary, make straight for this tumultuous recital. Hamelin is a master of the rhetorical flourish — amply displayed in the Fantasy and Fugue...He gives us filigree tenderness too and, in Venezia e Napoli, picturesque atmospherics. Finally, there is the epic Piano Sonata, with composer and pianist united in passion, structural control and visionary spirit.” The Times, 24th April 2011 **** “while Hamelin's technique is superhuman and magisterial, there is never a question of virtuosity for its own sake...the rapidity of Hamelin's repeated notes in the sun-drenched Tarantella is scarcely believable, his poetic poise and noble refinement elsewhere no less notable...Even so, pride of place must go to the Sonata, where Hamelin tempers Liszt's rhetoric with a measure of dignity and restraint...In short, this is a pianist to trump all aces.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2011 “Needless to say, Hamelin's performance of Liszt's Piano Sonata yields nothing in transcendental virtuosity...He opens with a very dramatic reading of the Fantasie and Fugue on B-A-C-H, with total clarity in articulation and voice-leading...Similar vigour and energy is to be found in evocative and exultant readings of Venezia e Napoli, highly characterized and full of shimmering colours” International Record Review, April 2011 “[Hamelin] yields nothing in technique to the greatest interpreters of this towering work on disc...bringing jaw-dropping bravura to the allegro energico sections and lending almost introverted delicacy to Liszt’s “singing” melodies. Some may find him too introverted, but he makes the strongest possible case for emphasising the contrasts in this ever-fascinating music.” Sunday Times, 10th April 2011 **** “Hamelin comes up with one of the finest recordings [of the Sonata] I've yet heard. Certainly I can't think of one where Liszt's immense single-movement design hangs together better. Under Hamelin's astonishing fingers, the work's progress unfolds with a fusion of spontaneity and seeming inevitability that enthrals both mind and ear as a great masterpiece should.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2011 ***** “[Benediction de Dieu contains] some of the loveliest pianissimo sounds you'll ever hear, a masterclass in touch and pedalling...After the 'tarantella' from Venezia e Napoli, played with a speed and clarity that will be the despair of Hamelin's peers, comes the mighty and oft-recorded Sonata, an account embracing the letter and spirit of the score that often comes close to perfection.” Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 ***** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Classic Brendel recordings of Liszt’s two piano concertos and the three popular movements of the Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses. Newly re-mastered. “His playing is full of poetry and meaning.... the playing is really wonderful.... Some of the quiet playing is magical.... Strongly recommended to Liszt’ admirers and enemies alike.” Gramophone Magazine (on Piano Concertos) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Liszt Complete Music for Solo Piano 7: Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses
Liszt: | Ave Maria für die grosse Klavierschule von Lebert und Stark, S182/R67, "Die Glocken von Rom" Ave maris stella, S. 506 Hymne du matin, S. 172a No. 3 Hymne de la nuit, S. 172a No. 4 Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses, S. 154 Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (10), S. 173 Alleluia, S. 183 No. 1 Ave Maria d'Arcadelt, S. 183 No. 2 In domum Domini ibimus, S. 505 O Roma nobilis, S506b Slavino slavno slaveni! S. 503 Ave Maria, S504i L'hymne du pape, S530/R190, "Inno del papa, Der Papsthymnus" In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, S188/R74 Sancta Dorothea, S187/R73 Ave Maria IV in G major, S545/R194 Benedictus from the Hungarian Coronation Mass, S501/R192 Offertorium from the Hungarian Coronation Mass, S501/R192 Stabat mater, S172b Urbi et orbi - benediction papale, S184/R69 Vexilla regis prodeunt, S. 185 Ave Maria, S504ii Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, the 1847 cycle, S. 172a |
“Howard, catching the authentic tinge of hysteria, mounts swiftly upwards in an ecstasy that burns away awareness of mere notes” Classic CD | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Liszt: | Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Tarantella, S. 162 No. 3 (from Venezia e Napoli) Rhapsodie espagnole, S254 Pensée des Morts (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 4) Legende S.175 No. 1, St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds Benediction de Dieu dans la solitude (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 3) Ave Maria IV in G major, S545/R194 Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 2) Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 3) Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 4) Receuillement, S204 La Lugubre Gondola I, S200 No. 1 La Lugubre Gondola II, S200 No. 2 Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 7) Ave Maria für die grosse Klavierschule von Lebert und Stark, S182/R67, "Die Glocken von Rom" |
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| |  | Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu
Pianist and conductor Vladimir Feltsman is one of the most versatile and constantly interesting musicians of our time. His vast repertoire encompasses music from the Baroque to 20th-century composers. A regular guest soloist with leading symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad, he appears in the most prestigious concert series and music festivals all over the world. | 
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| |  | Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage, deuxième année: Italie S161
A second solo disc on Signum from an insightful Welsh pianist. Llyr Williams is an acclaimed soloist, accompanist and chamber musician; highly sought after as a performer in the United Kingdom he was recently awarded a South Bank Sky Arts Award for his Beethoven Sonata Cycle at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh in August 2011 – where he performed all 32 sonatas in just two weeks! This disc follows SIGCD226 'Pictures', a collection of works by Debussy and Liszt alongside Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. “The centrepiece is the three Sonetti del Petrarca, fabulous elaborations of Liszt’s own songs, and Williams lends them a suave grandeur. The suite’s Dante sonata finale is sternly, superbly dispatched; the Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude a solemn, beautiful contrast; the transcription of Isolde’s Liebestod a calmly ecstatic one.” Sunday Times, 2nd September 2012 “Williams is a superb Liszt interpreter, never content to use even the most technically demanding music as just a vehicle for flashy display, but always looking beneath the elaborate surfaces for deeper rigour and meaning. That doesn't mean he ever understates the music's sense of theatre or misjudges its sense of scale, though; there's a tremendous power and intensity to his Dante Sonata” The Guardian, 6th September 2012 “Liszt’s piano music could have been written for Williams: he has the size of imagination, the temperamental bravura, the virtuosity-with-substance to make it sound elevated, not the stuff of charlatans...It’s a challenging programme to which he rises with immense authority, investing the Sonnets with the Olympian grace they deserve, and the Sonata with a mixture of barnstorming momentum and architectural scale.” Financial Times, 22nd September 2012 **** “Llyr Williams plays free and easy with the printed page … he does so in the context of performances that reveal such profound understanding, stylistic sophistication and obvious love of the music that I am completely won over.” International Record Review, November 2012 “Williams is entirely on terms with the virtuoso requirements of the Tarantella from Venezia e Napoli...The intricate part-writing of Liszt's transcription from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, too, comes across with a stellar combination of absolute clarity and gorgeous piano sound.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2013 **** “Instead of heady bravura, with more deliberate tempi Williams deconstructs the music, as it were, shows you every nut and bolt, ensures every note is given its due weight and importance...and then assembles everything into performances of overwhelming power that often send a tingle up the spine. For Williams, less is more...Williams may be no Cziffra but offers another view of Liszt that is as valid as it is compelling.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013 | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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Gramophone Magazine
Penguin Guide
