Liszt: Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera

An original contribution to the Verdi and Wagner celebrations of 2013: the complete Verdi and Wagner transcriptions by Liszt!

In a time when there was no recorded sound it was customary to promote the works of a composer by playing transcriptions for solo piano of well known works or excerpts. Super virtuoso Franz Liszt was a champion in this genre, his transcriptions are an art form in themselves, his complex and highly virtuosic piano writing enhanced rather than diminished the impact of the original work.

These recordings offer the complete transcriptions of two of Liszt’s heroes: Verdi and Wagner, featuring the famous Rigoletto paraphrase, the Duetto from Aida, the Spinnnerlied from Der Fliegende Holländer, the notorious Tannhäuser Overture (one of the most difficult pieces ever written) and the moving Isoldes Liebestod.

Played with authority and conviction by Michele Campanella, one of Italy’s foremost Liszt specialists, on a 1892 Steinway piano, lending a sense of authenticity to the performance.

This specially priced 4-CD set combines the romantic spirit and dignified musicality of Cuban-born pianist Jorge Bolet, who made many celebrated recordings as a Decca artist. He was to many a cult figure who brought a rare spontaneity and warmth to a broad range or repertoire, including popular favourites and dazzlingly virtuosic encores.

The art of Jorge Bolet is celebrated in this set which is released to mark the 20th anniversary of his death [16 October 1990].

Booklet includes an appreciation of Jorge Bolet by piano specialist Jeremy Siepmann

“Campanella has much virtuosity and there is plenty of entrancing pianism: but he is also deeply thoughtful” Gramophone

Michele Campanella is internationally known as one of major interpreters and virtuoso of the Liszt repertoire, and has been awarded the Grand Prix du Disque three years (1976, 1977 and 1998, the latter for “Franz Liszt - The Great Transcriptions, I-II” with Philips) by the prestigious “Franz Liszt” Academy in Budapest.

Campanella has faced in over 40 years of career most of the principal pages of the piano literature In addition to his activity as a musician, Campanella adds the role of writer. On March 10th in the Spazio Risonanze del Parco della Musica of Rome, he will present his book Il Mio Liszt, that the pianist dedicates to his author of reference This box of hitherto unissued recordings will be a must for any pianophile. Michele Campanella is already known to such connoisseurs as a Liszt player of the highest distinction, who has played the composer’s music for many decades now.

These recordings were made in Italy in the last 10 years, and reveal him as an ever more acute interpreter of this often elusive music.

Most obviously demanding, of course, are the 12 Transcendental Studies, that ultimate synthesis of literary-inspired creative fire and technical wizardry. Two discs of Wagner transcriptions venture from the familiar and relatively straightforward (Isoldes Liebestod) to the transformative recreations, entirely worthy of the originals, wrought by Liszt on themes from Lohengrin and Parsifal.Then on a disc of Liszt is the well-known Rigoletto paraphrase but also transcriptions of music from Gerusalem and Simon Boccanegra. Altogether we encounter the protean genius of Liszt at his most flexible, responding to the appetite of his day for both operatic pot-pourris and for clouds of piano dreams.

9 CDs and Bonus DVD for the price of 8

A stunning boxed set from the Idil Biret Archive comprising some of Liszt’s most loved pieces and transcriptions for piano. Includes a bonus DVD.