Liszt: Transcendental Studies, S139 Nos. 1-12 (Douze Études d'exécution transcendante)

For her Deutsche Grammophon debut, Alice Sara Ott has chosen the awe-inspiring Transcendental Etudes which, in her words, “mirror every aspect of Liszt’s multi-faceted personality. Only a performance of the complete cycle captures his immense quasi-orchestral and symphonic vision”.

After his studies in Moscow with Elisso Virsaladze Boris Berezovsky received international recognition and fame by winning the Gold Medal of the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1990. Since then he has made a world career playing with all major orchestras (Berlin, Concertgebouw, New York Philharmonic, London SO) and conductors. His recording of Liszt’s Piano Concertos and Transcendental Studies have become standards of Liszt playing: his limitless technique (indeed, transcendental) is never an end in itself, but permits him to present the structures and inner drama of these magnificent works. Formerly issued on Warner Classics.

Franz Liszt was the greatest piano virtuoso of his time, and his enormous solo piano output includes some of the most taxing music for the instrument ever written. He was influenced by a vast range of composers, but none more so than Paganini.

Liszt was inspired by Paganini’s incredible virtuosity on the violin, and wanted to translate it into piano technique.

He continually sought to push the boundaries of possibility, and many of his most difficult works for solo piano stem from this impulse, including the dazzling and fearsomely difficult Transcendental Studies. In doing so he laid the foundations for modern piano technique. However, the Studies are also one of the most important cycles in his output, designed to be a collection of sublimely enjoyable sound pictures and not just a series of technical inventions. Each one presents a different challenge to the performer, requiring eloquence and lyricism as much as dazzling virtuosity, from the delicacy of Feux follets, to the melting poetry of Ricordanza, the grand and dramatic Eroica, to the thundering finale, Chasse-neige.

This is the revised and most-performed version of the original 12 Transcendental Studies, published in 1852, which is slightly easier to play, although the galloping Mazeppa is technically more difficult. The exciting young Italian pianist Mariangela Vacatello is a Liszt specialist, renowned for her passionate performances and technical ability. She has given concerts at prestigious venues across the USA and Europe,and has won many awards. These include 2nd prize at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in 1999, and the Internet Audience Award at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

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.

In celebration of the Liszt year 2011, multi-award winning pianist Nelson Freire has personally selected the repertoire for his latest recording – his contribution to the anniversary of the pianist-composer’s birth in 1811.

The very personal selection includes Liszt showpieces such as the Harmonies du soir (12 Études d’exécution transcendante), the Hungarian Rhapsodies and Liebesträume.

Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire who The New York Times heralded as “an extra-ordinary pianist”, continues to garner both awards and critical acclaim for his recordings and concert appearances.

Nelson Freire’s most recent album of Chopin Nocturnes (4782182) received a Diapason d’or of the Year award in France and a Grammy nomination.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Liszt’s birth, this new format title (2 CDs + 50,000 word biography) explores the fascinating world of LIZST: HIS LIFE AND MUSIC.

Perhaps the greatest pianist who has ever lived, Liszt was one of the titanic musical figures of the Romantic age. Abandoning his spectacular career as a travelling virtuoso in his mid-thirties, this passionate lover and fond father dedicated himself instead to a life of composing, conducting, teaching and, increasingly, religious devotion, eventually taking minor orders in the Roman Catholic Church. This biography explores an enthralling life lived for long periods in France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the composer’s native Hungary – a kaleidoscope of cultural worlds whose folk music, literature and landscapes richly coloured Liszt’s own music.

The 2 CDs feature music spanning Liszt’s career, and the free website www.naxosaudiobooks/lisztlifeandmusic offers hours of extra music and other bonus material.