Liszt: Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major) ('O Lieb, so lang'; Rêve d'amour)

Jimmy Smits introduced American pianist Andrew von Oeyen to millions of PBS viewers at the July 09 event "A Capitol Fourth." In the star-studded program, Andrew joined Michael Feinstein and the National Symphony in a performance of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue".

In his first solo recording, Andrew presents the depth and breadth of Liszt's piano music - the grand design, the deep poetry, the ever-present song. Liszt's involvement in opera is well represented in this album, with affecting paraphrases of Wagner (Tristan und Isolde, Lohengrin) and Verdi (Rigoletto).

Worldwide concert audiences hail Andrew as an exciting soloist with major orchestras, and in top recital and Festival series. "As for star quality, von Oeyen is already risen…. leaves you convinced that he can do absolutely anything he likes with a keyboard." (Chicago Tribune)

"Andrew von Oeyen, keenly attuned to Liszt's grand design…I would go so far as to say that von Oeyen played the finest all-around performance of Franz Liszt's Sonata in B Minor that I have heard in many years." Washington Post

Many of Liszt’s works were transcribed for other instruments; both by the composer himself and other musicians. These hauntingly beautiful pieces for cello and piano were originally written for piano solo or the voice. They are from the final period of his life and are the product of his old age and his quest for spirituality. Far from the virtuoso brilliance of his earlier works, their intense and romantic melodies express melancholy and desolation, the sparse textures and harmonic instability daringly looking forward to the twentieth century.

The rich and warm expressive qualities of the cello undoubtedly make these pieces even more effective. The most significant work in this collection is La lugubre gondola, a compelling piece written after Liszt had a premonition of Wagner’s death. It was inspired by the Venetian gondola funeral processions he observed during a visit to the city to see Wagner. The music conveys the stillness of a Venetian lagoon, the unsettling harmonies also evoking the underlying darkness and despair. Another work with a very personal connection is the nostalgic Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, a transcription of one of his songs. Nonnenwerth was an island in the Rhine where Liszt spent time with Marie d’Agoult and their children, and his fondness for the work resulted in many different versions for solo piano, voice and piano duet as well as this version for cello and piano. There are also transcriptions for cello and piano by other musicians of some of his most popular piano works, including the six Consolations, Angelus!

From the third volume of Années de Pelèrinages and the Liebestraum No.3. The performers of this moving collection of works are the Italian cellist Francesco Dillon and the pianist Emanuele Torquati. Francesco Dillon performs as a soloist and with chamber groups all over the world and has made several recordings of unusual cello repertoire, including an album of Schumann rarities for Brilliant Classics.

It took a long time before the musical establishment recognised the genius of the great Cuban pianist Jorge Bolet. It was through his recordings for Decca, starting in the ‘80s, that the world got to know Bolet’s superb interpretations of especially Liszt’s piano music. Bolet’s playing has a speaking quality in which the music unfolds in eloquent phrases and dramatic gestures in true belcanto style, maintaining the structural proportions of the music in a most natural way. Some critics say that Bolet’s Decca recordings, whilst presenting the artist in his full maturity, lack the spontaneity and brilliance of his younger years, and Piano Classics is proud to release Bolet’s Spanish Ensayo Liszt recordings, in which the young lion of the keyboard shows his abundant temperament and virtuosity in commanding performances of the fearsome Etudes d’exécution transcendante, song transcriptions and opera paraphrases.

Liszt, the virtuoso, played all the keyboard literature and travelled the roads and seas; Liszt, the thinker, nourished his intellect through his readings of Lamennais, Lamartine and Hugo, Shakespeare and Byron, Dante and Petrarch, Goethe and Schiller; Liszt, the composer of songs, indebted to Italian bel canto, the French romance and the German chorale, set texts written in six languages, not including Latin. Hesitating between pure creation and transcription, which called upon his gifts as a wizard of the keyboard throughout his lifetime, he thus paid tribute to every facet of Western art, as may be seen from this recital, or "soliloquy", to use his own expression.

Tristan Pfaff, born 1985, studies with Michel Beroff and has been doing the rounds of the International Piano Competitions, winning the Arcachon. He came third in the recent Scottish International [Oxana Shevchenko was the winner].

This stunning collection showcases the greatest stars of classical music with dazzling performances from Gustavo Dudamel, Cecilia Bartoli, Lang Lang and Anna Netrebko, to name but a few...

Also includes legendary performances from some of the greatest artists of all time, including Luciano Pavarotti, Sir Georg Solti, Plácido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim.

Introducing the exciting talents of a number of rising stars such as Jonas Kaufmann, Danielle De Niese, Julia Fischer and Alice Sara Ott

With 40 tracks and over 2½ hours of music this collection is outstanding value for money, providing the foundation for a library of classical music.

First off is a revelatory compilation of Liszt’s most daring and virtuosic piano music, a special celebration of his wild and crazy side from an array of great pianists – dazzling virtuosity, extreme harmonies and textures – a helter-skelter ride through his piano oeuvre, with just the occasional moment of relaxation.

From the first strumming chords of the First Mephisto Waltz to the spooky harmonies of La lugubre gondola and the obsessive threnody of Totentanz, a master of the instrument stands before us in all his glory.

Featured are such names as Géza Anda, Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Jorge Bolet, Shura Cherkassky, Vladimir Horowitz, Zoltán Kocsis, Lang Lang, Alice Sara Ott, Mikhail Pletnev, Sviatoslav Richter and Yundi Li.

Rarities include four first releases on CD by Jean-Rodolfe Kars and Egon Petri – the latter aMasters of the Old School, with two incomparable performances of transcriptions (of Mozart’s Figaro and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) , guaranteed to bring the house down.

These recordings were originally recorded for Denon and are now available on CD for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The first installment of Piano Classics Liszt Series - 2011 Bicentenary - presents French pianist Michel Dalberto. These recordings made for Denon in the 1990s show Dalberto's great dramatic and pianistic qualities, in monumental and moving performances of the Bénediction de Dieu dans la Solitude, the Weinen, Klagen Variations, the second book 'Italie' of Années de Pelerinage, and the 3 Liebesträume. Future releases in what will be the Liszt series, will include Claudio Arrau, Earl Wild, Jorge Bolet, Alfred Brendel, György Cziffra, Cyprien Katsaris ….