Liszt: Grand galop chromatique, S219

The second album of Vanessa Benelli Mosell, one of the most exciting pianists of the younger generation, contains a selection of works which Liszt regularly performed himself during his piano recitals (the piano recital itself, being a showcase for one artist only, was invented by Liszt). The works share a quality to impress the audience, whether through hair-raising pyrotechnics (Hungarian Rhapsodies, Grand Galop Chromatique), or heartfelt sentiment (Liebestraum). Vanessa’s first album (Brilliant Classics 94209) was met with great enthusiasm from the international press.The Gramophone wrote: “Prodigious playing that combines the blazing virtuosic demand and her natural musical insight…great panache… sparkling technique in demanding music…she leaves no doubt of her enviable facility”. New

recording, newly written liner notes. A second disc from the brilliant young Italian pianist brings a focus on the 19th century lion of piano music whose anniversary was celebrated last year.

The first Brilliant Classics disc from Vanessa Benelli Mosell included music by Prokofiev and Scriabin: a test for even the most engulfing virtuoso. "Sparkling technique in demanding music", "She leaves no doubt of her enviable facility through out this, her ultra-demanding debut album", "Dextrous and cool-headed, she launches into Prokofiev's Seventh Sonata at a cracking pace...she is off like a rocket in the drum-beat 7/8 Precipitato finale, remarkably maintaining her impetus in the ever-widening leaps of the closing pages." Gramophone, November 2011 This new Liszt disc is structured after the fashion of a recital such as the composer himself might have given; with shorter and lighter items sprinkled among unabashed showpieces, and in the centre, an exploration of the composer’s complex relationship with his homeland expressed through native melodies and dances transmuted into new forms through the fantasymedium of the Hungarian Rhaposody. To finish, the fireworks of the Grand galop chromatique, beloved of Cziffra, Bolet and others in whose pianistic footsteps Vanessa Benelli Mosell dances with abandon.

As the 19th century faded and the 20th century began, something special was in the air: the scent of decadence mingled with the thrill of the new.

Moving from Romanticism to Modernism, creative spirits welcomed diverse influences – some of them exotic – and introduced new textures and colours to their work. Whether first heard in Paris, Vienna or London, the music of the Belle Époque was typically sensuous, elegant and perfumed – and full of subtle delights.

The Russian-born virtuoso Shura Cherkassky was undoubtedly one of the finest pianists of the 20th-century, admired not only for the magnificence of his playing but also for the wide range of his concert repertoire. On this important and valuable double-album, we concentrate on his noted recordings of 19th-century repertoire, which constitute music from the heart of his fondly-remembered performances. The recordings, all except the Liszt Liebestraum appearing on CD for the first time, have been excellently remastered and the playing-time of these CDs is very generous - almost two hours and forty minutes of great musicianship.

This is truly the ‘Summer of Lang Lang’! The hottest Classical artist on the classical music planet, as described by The New York Times, is back with his second recording for Sony Classical, which is devoted to his very own piano hero - Franz Liszt.

On this album, together with the Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev, Lang Lang plays Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as a selection of some of the most commercial, famous, virtuosic and beautiful solo pieces by Franz Liszt such as La Campanella, Liebestraum and Hungarian Rhapsody Nr 6, Consolation etc.

His 200th anniversary being this October 22, Franz Liszt is commonly regarded as the first pop star in music history. A touring piano virtuoso himself, Franz Liszt composed some of the most famous and virtuosic pieces ever written for the instrument.

Gyorgy (Georges) Cziffra (1921-1994) was a child prodigy, a phenomenal pianist, born into poverty in Budapest before adopting French citizenship having escaped from his Soviet-dominated homeland in 1956 after enduring deprivation, hard labour and imprisonment. In a breathtaking career, Cziffra achieved almost iconic status but at the same time remained a controversial figure. After the tragic death of his son, Gyorgy Junior, in 1981, Cziffra's life changed and he was never quite the same man again. Cziffra died in 1994 leaving the Cziffra Foundation at Senlis devoted to helping young pianists.

'Greater than Horowitz, he combines the precision of a metronome with the electrical discharge of a thunderstorm' are some of the quotes describing his pianism. His Liszt produced a near hysterical reaction where he found an ideal outlet for his hair-raising pianism while his Chopin was highly individual and controversial.

The Tokyo recital from 1964 represents a very high point in his playing capturing the early Cziffra at his mercurial best. He had only started his career in 1956 and by 1964 was totally international. The tapes have been sourced from the Cziffra Foundation.

"Judging from recordings of live concerts, the stimulation of an audience spurred Cziffra to reach for his limits and beyond; the pianist repeatedly demonstrated some of the most daring risk-taking in musical history. The 1964 live Tokyo recording contains unimaginable renditions of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody n°6 and Grand Galop chromatique, for example. The palpable electricity and generosity of his playing, reflecting the warmth and kindness of the man, were the sources of his public adulation" Pierre-Martin Juban writing in the International Piano Quarterly.