All recordingsPrices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Magic Fire and other Wagner transcriptions
Risto-Matti Marin (piano) Risto-Matti Marin’s new release Magic Fire and other Wagner Transcriptions includes piano transcriptions by six composers in honour of Wagner’s anniversary in 2013. Risto-Matti Marin (b.1976) graduated as a Doctor of Music from the Sibelius Academy in 2010 with an artistic degree in piano transcriptions. His solo CD’s on Alba range from baroque and romantic music all the way to contemporary works. All have received high acclaim from home (Finland) and abroad. “Sturdy performances: Marin is very strong in Liszt's ultra-difficult Tannhauser arrangement. The most interesting rarity is Louis Brassin's Forest Murmurs.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 *** | 
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Niu Niu: Liszt Transcriptions
Liszt: | Danse macabre (after Saint-Saëns), S555/F240 Zwolf Lieder Von Franz Schubert - [aus] Winterreise, S561: No. 4, Die Post Der Doppelganger (No. 12 from Schwanengesang, S560, after Schubert) Das Wandern (No. 1 from Müllerlieder von Franz Schubert, S565) Ständchen - Horch, horch! die Lerch (No. 9 from Zwölf Lieder von Franz Schubert, S558) Erlkönig, S558 No. 4 (after Schubert D328) Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 2 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 6 Isolde's Liebestod (after Wagner), S447 Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 O du, mein holder Abendstern - Rezitativ und Romanze aus Tannhäuser S444 Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major) Grand galop chromatique, S219 Le cygne (The Swan) |
“Given that Niu Niu was only 14 when he made this recording last year, his achievement is remarkable. His equable, rounded tone is underpinned by mature technique...Sometimes a big enough response to the music's soaring flight is lacking...Clearly though, here is a fine musical talent.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 *** “in purely digital terms, Niu Niu produces some remarkable playing. He has a wonderful leggiero touch when required: the 'Spinnerlied' from The Flying Dutchman is very fine (how good to hear a youngster revive this old favourite)...Niu Niu is able to breathe fresh life into an old chestnut like the Liebestraum No. 3. So - fantastic fingers, bags of potential but, as yet, no charm.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013 “Poetic insights? Moments of repose? Those must wait, if they arrive at all, for the prodigy’s mature adulthood...the piano tone is varied and round, never appearing to have been stamped out by a music-making machine. Another good omen could be the modest, almost casual way that Niu Niu often concludes a piece, rarely emphasising the final chord.” The Times, 11th January 2013 *** |
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Asher Fisch: Liszt Wagner Paraphrases
A new album from Melba Recordings offers Wagner “unplugged”: favourite concert selections from the operas arranged by Franz Liszt for the piano. Asher Fisch is one of the most noted Wagnerian conductors today and he brings a symphonic sensibility and lyricism to these concert showpieces. His poetic readings of Liszt’s Wagner Paraphrases have been developed through an acclaimed career in the opera houses of Europe. These are deeply satisfying performances shot through with heartfelt musical insights, Fisch’s first piano solo recording. Liszt’s paraphrases are more than mere transcriptions, they give heart and soul and expressive voice to the mighty originals, heightened by his own inimitable virtuosity. The selections recorded here include paraphrases on music from The Mastersingers of Nuremburg, The Flying Dutchman, Tannhauser, and Lohengrin, plus of course, the famous ‘Liebestod’ from Tristan and Isolde. In these performances, Asher Fisch displays a depth of scholarship and understanding of historical context, uncovering hints of the changing and often highly charged relationship between the two great composers; Liszt’s hinting at the origin of the Tristan Chord or later disrespectfully thumbing his nose at Wagner with the addition of a virtuoso octave scale. Fisch knows where all the bodies are buried in these scores, and just how to bring out the detail at its most vivid and vital. Although not widely regarded as a composer of major works for piano, Wagner’s three exquisite miniatures that conclude this album show that, away from the opera house, he could craft music on a smaller scale that is both intimate and personal. “There's no lack of finesse and technical facility about Fisch's performances, but there's something perfunctory, almost approximate. Liszt composed the pieces as recital items, after all, recreating vocal lines and orchestral sonorities in pianistic terms, but Fisch seems determined to play down their element of showmanship.” The Guardian, 18th October 2012 *** “An interesting programme of seven of Liszt's Wagner paraphrases, and three Albumblätter by Wagner himself, but there's a matter-of-factness to the playing that works against this repertoire.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Liszt Complete Music for Solo Piano 17: Liszt at the Opera 2
“There are riches galore here … Howard, as with every volume so far, brings to the recording studio the excitement of a live performance while never neglecting or unduly emphasising the poetry and sentiment” CD Review | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
|
|
| |  | Idyll: Wagner Transcriptions
“This young Latvian pianist brings brilliant technique and lovely light and shade to an intriguing programme” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 **** | |
|
| |  | Wagner’s Piano
Michele Campanella (piano) The Italian pianist Michele Campanella is acknowledged as one of the foremost virtuosos and interpreters of the music of Franz Liszt. The Franz Liszt Society in Budapest has awarded him their Grand Prix du Disque on three occasions, and in 1986 the Hungarian Ministry of Culture presented him with a medal for “Services to Liszt”, as did also the American Liszt Society in 2002. The recording of Wagner transcriptions and late piano works by Liszt presented here was a milestone on the pianist’s route to becoming a Liszt expert. It is particularly notable for being made using Richard Wagner’s own grand piano, which dates from 1876 and can be found at the Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth. | | | (also available to download from $10.75) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
|
|
| |  | Liszt: Paraphrases & Etudes d’Execution transcendanteThe Ensayo Recordings - Jorge Bolet
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. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Paderewski - A Selection of his US Victor Recordings 1914-1941
Beethoven: | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight': Adagio sostenuto | Chopin: | Waltz No. 5 in A flat major, Op. 42 Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, Op. 15 No. 2 Mazurka No. 37 in A flat major, Op. 59 No. 2 Mazurka No. 38 in F sharp minor, Op. 59 No. 3 Étude Op. 25 No. 7 in C sharp minor Étude Op. 25 No. 8 in D flat major Étude Op. 25 No. 9 in G flat major 'Butterfly' | Debussy: | Préludes - Book 1: No. 12, Minstrels | Liszt: | Ständchen - Horch, horch! die Lerch (No. 9 from Zwölf Lieder von Franz Schubert, S558) La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 | Mendelssohn: | Song without Words, Op. 67 No. 4 in C major 'Spinning Song' or 'Bee's Wedding' | Paderewski: | Melody in G Op. 8 No. 3 Minuet in G major, Op. 14 No. 1 Recorded address on the observance of the golden anniversary of Ignacy Jan Paderewski’s American début | Rachmaninov: | Prelude Op. 32 No. 12 in G sharp minor Prelude Op. 3 No. 2 in C sharp minor | Schubert: | Impromptu in B flat major, D935 No. 3 | Schumann: | Warum, Op. 12, No. 3 | Wagner: | Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act 1 arr. by E. Schelling |
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (piano) Jan Paderewski enthralled the world with his artistry for more than half a century. Immensely popular as a recitalist (he played in Madison Square Garden to 20,000 people), he came to recording as late as 1911, leaving an important legacy. These recordings, mostly from the 1920s and some unpublished on 78rpm, show Paderewski as a uniquely eloquent interpreter of Beethoven, his compatriot Chopin, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Rachmaninov, Debussy and his own compositions. Whether performing in grand Romantic style, with scintillating virtuosity, or as if confiding intimate secrets, Paderewski possessed what Henry James memorably described as “exhilarating goodness”. “Systematic treatment of Paderewski's large discography is long overdue….it is bound to entice historic piano recording collectors.” Classics Today “The oddities were odd: the out-of-synch hands, the sometimes bemusing understatement. But what artistry and grace… Gorgeous tonal range too (as in Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata) from the ageing master-pianist - surprisingly good sound.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2009 ***** “Despite (and often because of) such old-fashioned devices as the asynchronisation of hands and exaggerated rubato, there is playing of incomparable beauty on these 20 discs; many pianists today could learn much from listening to Paderewski's clarity of line, luminous tone and artful use of the pedals. All in all, much to treasure...” Gramophone Magazine, March 2009 “A choice selection of the Polish master's prolific recorded output Despite (and often because of) such old-fashioned devices as the asynchronisation of hands and exaggerated rubato, there is playing of incomparable beauty on these 20 discs; many pianists today could learn much from listening to Paderewski's clarity of line, luminous tone and artful use of the pedals.
These (mainly) electrical sides were the first to approach capturing successfully the pianist's unique sound (Ward Marston has done the audio restoration here) though the earliest, a 1914 acoustic of Schumann's “Warum?”, is astonishingly successful for its time.
Producer Jonathan Summers has chosen short pieces representative of the more than 70 titles Paderewski recorded in America between 1914 and 1931. The most substantial works are Schubert's B flat Impromptu (9'06”), lyrical and heartfelt, and of the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde (7'38”) arranged by Paderewski's pupil Ernest Schelling. Elsewhere there are the celebrated recordings of the Wagner-Liszt Spinnerlied and one of many of the pianist's own ubiquitous Minuet in G; of particular interest are the two Chopin studies and Rachmaninov titles unpublished on 78rpm, the first (and only) movement of the Moonlight in which bars 34-42 are played with an accelerando and crescendo – an interesting idea – and Rachmaninov's famous Prelude the final page of which is executed with surprising ferocity. All in all, much to treasure.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $9.25) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
|
|
| |  | Virtuosity of Earl Wild
Albert, E: | Scherzo in F Sharp Major, Op. 16, No. 2 | Chopin: | Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque' | Dohnányi: | Concert Etude, Op. 28 No. 6 in F minor (Capriccio) Capriccio in B minor, Op. 2, No. 4 | Liszt: | Grand galop chromatique, S219 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 2 in C sharp minor Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 4 in E flat major Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 12 in C sharp minor Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Frühlingsnacht (after Schumann, Op. 39 No. 12), S568 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 2 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 5 'La Chasse' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 10 'Appassionata' La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Transcendental Study, S139 No. 2 in A minor Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215/1 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 Transcendental Study, S139 No. 7 'Eroica' Waldesrauschen, S145 No. 1 | Mendelssohn: | Songs without Words, Op. 67 No. 4 | Moszkowski: | Étincelles, Op. 36 No. 6 | Tausig: | Concert arrangement of Schubert's, Marche militaire, Op. 51 No. 1 | Tchaikovsky: | Scherzo à la Russe, Op. 1 No. 1 | Wild: | Dance of the Four Swans (after Tchaikovsky) |
| | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
|
|
| |  | Wild About Liszt
Albert, E: | Scherzo in F Sharp Major, Op. 16, No. 2 (2 performances) | Chopin: | Grande Polonaise Op. 22 | Liszt: | Ballade No. 2 in B minor, S171/R16 Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage III, S. 163 No. 4) Après une lecture du Dante, fantasia quasi sonata (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 7) Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173 No. 7) Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 4) Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 5) (2 performances) Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Années de pèlerinage II, S. 161 No. 6) Valse oubliée No. 1, S.215/1 Mephisto-Polka, S217ii Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Fantasy & Fugue in G minor (J S Bach BWV542) for piano, S463 Symphony No. 1 (after Beethoven): excerpt Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, S.434 after Verdi's opera Widmung S566 after Schumann (Liebeslied) Mes joies – Nocturne d'après un chant polonais de Fr. Chopin, S480/5bis Die Lorelei Spinnerlied aus Der fliegende Holländer S440 Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 5 'La Chasse' Grande Étude de Paganini, S. 141 No. 3 'La Campanella' (2 performances) Étude d'exécution transcendante d'après Paganini, S. 140 No. 2 Polonaise No. 2 in E major, S223 No. 2 Piano Sonata in B minor, S178 La leggierezza - Étude de concert No. 2, S144 Un Sospiro from 3 Concert Studies, S144 No. 3 Gnomenreigen, S145 No. 2 (2 performances) Etude de concert No. 2 in F minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 3 'Paysage' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 2 in A minor Transcendental Study, S139 No. 9 'Ricordanza' Transcendental Study, S139 No. 10 'Appassionata' | Respighi: | Notturno | Wild: | Larghetto from the Piano Concerto No. 2 (after Chopin) |
DISC ONE: - 'Liszt the Poet' July 26, 1986 - 'Liszt the Transcriber' July 28, 1986 - Documentary on 'Wynyard' and Liszt July 24 - 28, 1986 DISC TWO: - 'Liszt the Virtuoso' July 30, 1986 - 'An Evening with Earl Wild' BBC-TV September 21, 1974 - CBS-TV Sunday Morning with Earl Wild 198 - Dutch TV interview with Earl Wild on the occasion of his 90th Birthday Concert in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw September 25, 2005 AUDIO TRACKS: - Earl Wild speaking to the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music, November 6, 2003 - Mannes School International Keyboard Festival interview with Earl Wild - moderator Donald Manildi July 20, 2003 NYC - John Amis on BBC's 'Talking About Music' with guest Earl Wild 1986 - Sharon Eisenhour interviews Earl Wild on WUHY Philadelphia July, 1982 “Wild is a major pianist whose modesty has partly concealed what these two DVDs reveal: he is a staggering Liszt interpreter, and here we have many hours of his playing and talking. Unfortunately the discs are extraordinarily confusingly laid out.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 *** “Earl Wild (born 1915) is the last great representative of those pianists directly influenced by the playing of Rachmaninov and Hoffman: he has an all-encompassing repertoire; he composes; he transcribes; he has one of the finest mechanisms in history; he produces some of the most beautiful sounds you will ever hear from the piano (as he says himself, he was brought up to play as though every member of the audience were blind).
Among history's very greatest Liszt pianists, he is heard here in no fewer than three fulllength Liszt recitals. They were recorded before an audience over three evenings in July 1986 at Wynyard, the ancestral home of the Ninth Marquess of Londonderry, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of Liszt.
'Liszt the Poet' includes the Ballade No 2, a wonderfully proportioned Dante Sonata, Funérailles and Mephisto Waltz No 1 with Wild's own and (in my opinion) much improved ending; 'Liszt the Transcriber' has 'hyphenated' Bach, Verdi, Schumann, Chopin, Paganini (stunning) and the Beethoven-Liszt Symphony No 1; 'Liszt the Virtuoso' is dominated by the B minor Sonata. Though not professionally filmed, the sound recording is quite acceptable while the picture quality is second generation video. There is also an enjoyable, homespun documentary of Wild's visit to Wynyard, the tour of the jaw-dropping estate and its immense house (boasting its own organ and played briefly by the pianist) conducted by the piano-loving Marquess himself.
On the second DVD is a 1974 BBC recital/ interview with the much-missed Robin Ray who elicits the memorable quote that 'the difference between playing a piece like the d'Albert Scherzo and, say, Beethoven Op 111 is that in the d'Albert you are a decorator; in the Beethoven you are an architect. A pianist should be able to be both.' There's an interview on the occasion of Wild's 90th birthday concert at the Concertgebouw and an additional 124 minutes of audio features: Wild lecturing (with some wickedly funny anecdotes) in 2003, interviewed by John Amis for the BBC in 1986 and Sharon Eisenhour for Philadelphia's WUHY station in 1982. What a cornucopia!” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
|
|
| |
|
