Scarlatti / Beethoven / Saygun / Bernstein / Muczynski
JDT 3223
About This CD
Domenico Scarlatti, Sonatas K1, K9, K11, K146
A seemingly inexhaustible source of ideas, Domenico Scarlatti wrote over 550 sonatas for the keyboard in binary form. Of these sonatas, only a fraction was published during his lifetime and those only after he was 50 years of age. Throughout these sonatas, his modern-sounding bold harmonies and unexpected modulations to distant keys, his fresh ideas, his ability to constantly surprise, and his technically demanding innovations, are unmatched in 18th century keyboard music.
Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples in 1685, the same year as J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. In 1719 he was engaged as the Master of the Royal Chapel, and teacher of the Infanta Dona Barbara, in the court of Portugal. He moved to Madrid in 1729 in the service of Maria Barbara after her marriage to the Spanish crown prince, where he remained as a court composer and teacher until his death in 1757.
His originality and brilliance on the harps-chord, unmatched at the time, took the possibilities of the instrument to new levels with such novel techniques as the use of rapid passage work, broken thirds and arpeggios, large skips, crossing of the hands, octaves in both hands, and repeated notes. His long residence in the Iberian Peninsula inspired him with the rhythms and the folk elements so frequently stylized in his sonatas. According to S. Sitwell, "Until the appearance of Liszt, Domenico Scarlatti was the greatest virtuoso in history."
Ludwig van Beethoven , Seven Bagatelles, Op. 33 (1802)
From the beginning of the 18th century, the term "bagatelles" had been used to describe a collection of short, unpretentious, and intimate instrumental pieces, often loosely-gathered, and without a cyclic connection to one another. Usually written for the piano, these were the precursors of the romantic character piece of the 19th century, Francois Couperin (1668-1733) having used the title Les Bagatelles for pieces in his Pieces de Clavecin. Beethoven published three sets of Bagatelles for the piano: the seven bagatelles in Op. 33, eleven as Op. 119; and six as Op.126. These define him as a master not only of the monumental works, with which we are more familiar, but of the small form as well. He undoubtedly returned to material composed in his early youth for some of the pieces in Opus 33, using ideas derived from folk music and dance-liked elements. At the other extreme, the Opus 126 set remains the only important work that Beethoven wrote for the piano after the Diabelli Variations.
Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Inci's Book, Op. 10 (1934) / 12 Preludes on Aksak Rhythms, Op. 45 (1967)
Adnan Saygun was the most prominent member of the group that came to be called the Turkish Five, which laid the groundwork for polyphonic music in the modern Turkish Republic. Saygun's musical education started in Izmir at the early age. In 1928 he went to Paris and studied composition with Eugene Borrel and Madame Borrel at the Paris Conservatory and, later, at the Schola Cantorm he studied with Vincent d'Indy, Paul Le Flem, Edouard Souberbielle, and Amedee Gastoue.
Upon his return to Turkey in 1931, Saygun developed an intense interest in folk music and created a colorful and unique personal style through his creative fusion of Turkish folk music with western European techniques. In 1936 he accompanied Bartok on journey through Anatolia collecting folk songs.
Saygun's compositional oeuvre is of major significance in a broad range of classical music. his 79 works with opus numbers include 5 symphonies, 5 operas, orchestral dances and variations, 2 ballet scores. 2 piano concertos, concertos for violin, viola, violoncello; 3 string quartets, sonatas for piano and violin, piano and violoncello,; numerous chamber music compositions, as well as works for voice and orchestra, works for voice and piano, fork song arrangements, and miscellaneous choral works.
Inci's Book is an early composition consisting of short unambiguous episodes in a little girls imaginary world, Saygun dedicated the work to his counterpoint teacher, Madame Borrel. The Prelude selections are from Preludes on Aksak Rhythms, Op, 45. According to the composers own foreword to the work, "The term Aksak, borrowed from Turkish musical terminology, has been in use since the 1949 international Conference of Folk Music Specialists in Geneva, when musicologists designated this new category of rhythms. Aksak rhythms are produced b the combination of time units belonging to binary and ternary divisions on the condition that the tempo of these basic metrical units remains unaltered."
Leonard Bernstein, Touches (Chorale, 8 Variations, Coda), 1980
One of the most influential American musical figures of the second half of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) left an unparalleled legacy as a conductor, composer, pianist and teacher, he became the Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic in 1958, a post he held until 1969. his rich legacy of over 500 recordings, mostly with the New York Philharmonic, spans works of Beethoven, Brahms, Copland, Haydn, Schumann, Sibelius, and Mahler. His own compositions include the Jeremiah Symphony (1943), the Age of Anxiety (1949), Candide (1956), Mass (1971), and Kaddish (1963). Bernstein also composed music for Broadway stage hits such as On the Town(1944), and the West Side Story (1957).
Robert Muczynski, 6 Preludes, Op. 6 (1954)
One of the most distinguished of contemporary American composers, as well as an accomplished pianist and teacher, Robert Muczynski was born in 1929 in CHicago of Polish-Slovak parents. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees, both in Piano Performance, from De Paul University of Chicago where he studied piano with Walter Knupter, and composition with Alexander Tcherepnin.
In 1958 Muczynski made his Carnegie Hall debut where he performed a program of his won piano compositions, He was later to receive a number of awards for his compositions and commissions, among which were two grants from the Ford Foundation, the International Society for Contemporary Music Prize, and numerous creative merit awards. His Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra Op. 41 was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1982.
Muczynski's compositions for piano reveal his skilled and discerning use of the instrument, His early work 6 Preludes for Piano, Op. 6 is an imaginative and dynamic composition dedicated to Alexander Tcherepnin, who wrote of Muczynski's piano music: "Again and again, I admire the personal drama and lyricism in Muczynski's piano writing, which gives the pianist every opportunity of displaying his musicianship and virtuosity."
W. A. MOZART
JDT 3222
About This CD
Sonata in C Major, K. 330
Mozart was on a concert tour in Paris during the months of March through September of 1778 when his mother, who was accompanying him, died there on July 3, It is known that the tragic A minor sonata K. 310 was written in Paris during the summer of that year. The three sonatas K, 330-332 wore also considered among the 'Paris' sonatas for a long time, but recent research suggests that they wore probably written much later, most Likely in 1781 -83 In Vienna or Salzburg. Published as a group by Artaria in Vienna, 1784, the sonatas K. 330-332 are among Mozart's most popular works for piano.
The C major sonata K. 330 is characterized by its pure and peaceful mood, the beauty of its themes, and the economy of its musical language. It was described succinctly by Alfred Einstein as " __a masterpiece, in which every note belongs - one of the most lovable works Mozart ever wrote." Indeed, the first movement Allegro moderate is a light and perfectly Mozartean construction The second movement is a sparingly written and emotionally-charged Andante cantablle, to which, for the first edition of the work, Mozart added a four-bar coda. The last movement, Allegretto, returns to the positive mood of the first, and interestingly, Mozart uses a simple song-like tune in place of the standard development in the second part of the finale.
Variations on a Minuet by Duport. K. 573
Movements in the form of variations can be found in many of Mozart's works. His sixteen published sets of variations for solo piano probably reflect only a fraction of his output in this form, as he would have undoubtedly improvised these on demand in his concerts. Many sets of vacations as well as fantasies, another improvisatory form, were probably not written down at all. Jean-Pierre Duport [1741-1818} and his younger brother Jean-Louis (1749-1819) were both cellists and composers of some note. In 1773 Jean-Pierre was appointed the first cellist of the Royal Opera, and a chamber musician of the Royal Chapel in Berlin, by Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786). He remained in Berlin until 1811 as the music director to Frederick and was, at the same time, music teacher and music director to Frederick's nephew and immediate successor Frederic William II who ruled Prussia until 1797. Jean-Louis studied cello with his older brother and went on to become one of Fiance's foremost cellists at the end of the eighteenth century.
In April of 1789 Mozart had traveled to Berlin with his former piano student Prince Lichnowsky in search of a full time position at the Prussian court of Frederick William II, and it was during this trip that he made the acquaintance of Jean-Pierre Duport. The variations K. 573 were written in Potsdam in 1789 and based on the theme from the Sonata no. 6 in D major for Violoncello and Bass by Jean-Pierre Duport, published in 1787.
Mozart had kept a catalog of his works since early 1784, however his holograph catalog entry dated April 29, 1789, lists only six variations for K. 573. Three more were subsequently added, and the work was published with nine variations by Hummel in 1789. Mozart's autographed manuscript of the piece is lost.
Fantasia in D minor, K. 397
The Fantasia in D minor, presumably written in Vienna in 1782, is organized in three sections: Andante, Adagio, and Allegretto. Mozart completed the first two sections of the Fantasia, and only a part of the third, the last ten bars of which are missing in the first edition published in Vienna in 1804. The ending as it now exists was probably supplied by his Leipzig admirer August Eberhard Muller for the later Breitkopf and Hartel Edition.
For such a short work Mozart has created a rich variety of mood and drama surrounding the central Adagio section. This is achieved, in part, with the extremely effective use of rests, dynamic and rhythmic contrasts, free cadenzas, and a certain degree of harmonic vagueness.
The initial Andante serves as an intioduction to the somber and melancholic Adagio. The first eleven bars establish the melodic outline of the whole section with arpeggiated chords in D minor The Allegretto is based on two themes consisting of eight-bar phrases of child-like Wozartean melody. Here the ambiguities are resolved and the melancholy gives way to a bright statement in the tonic major.
Fantasia in C minor, K. 475
Sonata in C minor, K. 457
In 1781 Mozart left the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and settled in Vienna with the intent of making his living as a conceit pianist playing his own works, composing opera, and private teaching. Even though he was in constant financial difficulty, here he spent the most fruitful and productive ten years of his life, and composed a significant portion of his most enduring works. Among his piano sonatas conceived during the period from 1766 to 1791, a significant number of mature sonatas were written during these last years in Vienna including both the Fantasia in C minor, K, 475 and the Sonata in C minor, K. 457.
The Sonata in C minor, K. 457 was entered into Mozart's work catalog on October 14, 1784, in Vienna. It was later published in December of 1735. together with the Fantasia K. 475 which had been completed some months earlier in the same year K. 457 bears the dedication: "Sonata. For Piano Solo. Composed for Mrs. Theresa von Trattner by her most humble servant Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Vienna. 14 October, 1784." Mozart's talented pupil Therese von Trattner was the second wife of Johan Thomas von Trattner, a Viennese publisher and printer.
Mozart uses the key of C minor to reflect a tragic and troubled mood. Both the somber Sonata and the introductory Fantasia are unprecedented in scope and depth of feeling. Even though Mozart published them together, each work is complete unto itself and independent of the other for contrast and intensity. The Fantasia is somewhat Schubertian in its modulations, and provides a glimpse of Mozart's improvisational powers. The Sonata is probably the most impassioned of all Mozart sonatas, and a clear model for Beethoven's Op. 13 Pothetique Sonata of 1799, also in C minor.
The Sonata opens with a Mannheim-rocket figure which propels it forward. This is the figure Mozart uses with abandon in his great G minor symphony. The first and the third movements are both dark and dramatic. The beautiful Adogio movement in E flat major provides the requisite contrast between the troubled outer movements.
"Grim seriousness reigns in K. 457" writes Alfred Einstein. "It is clear that it represents a moment of great agitation, agitation that could no longer be expressed in the fatalistic A rninor key of the Paris sonata, but requires the pathetic C minor that was to be Beethoven's favorite key for the expression of similar emotions. It has rightly been said that this work contains a 'Beethovenisme d'avant la lettre.' Indeed it must be stated that this very Sonata contributed a great deal towards making 'Beethovenisme' possible.
Contrasting with the concentrated first and last movements, there is a broad concerto-like Adagio in the tranquil key of E-flat major, which, in accordance with the true nature of its creator, who could not seek any easy way out, does not lead to a finale in major, on the contrary, the Finale is just as pathetic as the first movement, and even darker. There is a disproportion in this work The sonata form of 1784 is too small for the expansion of feeling, although we must admit that one of the most powerful reasons for the effectiveness of the work is precisely the explosive compression and brevity of the first and last movements.
Mozart himself must have felt the necessity of providing a basis for the explosive quality of the sonata, and justifying it as the product of a particular spiritual state; accordingly, he preceded it with the Fantasy, K, 475 (written on 20 May 1785), and published the two together This fantasy, which gives us the truest picture of Mozart's mighty power of improvisation - his ability to indulge in the greatest freedom and boldness of imagination, the most extreme contrast of ideas, the most uninhibited variety of lyrical and virtuoso elements, while yet preserving structural logic - this work is so rich that it threatens to eclipse the sonata, without actually doing so. It is the key to understanding of Mozart's other fantasies."
Santa Barbara LISZT Album
JDT 3092
About
This CD
Liszt wrote three virtuoso sets of descriptive character pieces based partly on the lyrical and pictorial impressions of his travels in Switzerland and in Italy. He worked on these pieces almost all of his adult life. The opening piece of this album, Les Cloches de Genève, is from Années de Plèrinage, Première année: Suisse. This set of nine pieces is based on Liszt's impressions of the sights and sounds of his stay in Switzerland during 1835-36. Liszt dedicated the piece to his eldest daughter, Blandine, in commemoration of her birth in Geneva on December 18,1835. The epigraph for the work
"I live not in myself but I become
Portion of that around me."
is a text from Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Distant sound of the bells of Cathedral of Saint-Pierre quietly announces this impressionistic and poetic piece. The sound of the bells then extends in range, increase in dynamics and rhythm with the addition of descending harp-like figurations.
 Franz
Liszt (1811-1886) |
It took Liszt over 25 years to reshape the works that were to become his Transcendental études. The technical challenges embodied in this collection of twelve pieces are an excellent indication of the extraordinary virtuosity of Liszt. The etude Eroica in E flat major is the seventh etude in this work. It has unmistakably heroic opening bars that utilize almost the complete range of the piano. Liszt keeps the tonality of the piece hidden for quite some time, and after frequent modulations and energetic double-octave passages, the piece has an appropriately forceful finish.
In harmony as well as in form, some of Liszt's later compositions remarkably foreshadow twentieth-century music. Dissonance and unconventional harmonic effects are apparent in Trübe Wolken/Nuages gris (Gloomy clouds), written in 1881, a few years before the composer's death. It is a somber tonal piece in G minor, but the tonal focus is largely kept in the background, while atonal elements are prominently brought to the fore.
Liszt's compositions for the organ are relatively few compared to the extent of his overall oeuvre. Fantasie and Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H was composed in 1855 originally for organ, intended for the inauguration of a new instrument in Merseburg Cathedral. It is a dark and powerful virtuoso piece, befitting the exceptional expressive possibilities offered by this new organ. The piano arrangement presented here was completed in 1870. Liszt was a great admirer of J.S. Bach, and this work is an obvious tribute to him. It is based on the four notes B, A, C, and H of his name, which in the German scale correspond to the symbols for the sequence of notes B flat, A, C, and B. The piece opens with this Bach motif in left hand octaves, which is subsequently transposed and harmonized in different ways rather freely, but always with technical demands that are typical of Liszt. The fugue starts with a mysterioso bass figure for the left hand and is dominated by the ever present superpositions of the Bach motif. For the majestic ending, the motif is transposed into a pattern of ascending double-octaves.
In addition to his famous operatic paraphrases and transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies, Liszt also transcribed over fifty Schubert lieder for solo piano. This he did with such apparent ease and artistry that the pieces seem entirely natural and unforced in their new format. In these brilliant transcriptions, he was able to incorporate the melodic line and the already demanding accompaniment in an unmistakably Lisztian fashion: at once Inartistic, masterful, and engaging. Among them are twelve songs from the cycle Winterreise, which includes Erstarrung. Erstarrung (Congealing/Turning to Ice) is characterized by accompanying triplets, out of which the beautiful Schubert melody makes its appearance. The second transcription Aufenthalt is from the twelve lieder from Schubert's posthumous collection Schwanengesang. Here Liszt is not intent on literal Fidelity to the original: the transcription has running bass line ornamentations for instance, which enhance the dramatic effect of the piece greatly, but without altering its original spirit. The last transcription Ave Maria on this album is undoubtedly one of the best known Schubert melodies, Liszt's transcription differs from the original in the number of verses used and in the improvisational character of the developing accompaniment. The accompaniment has an increasingly thicker texture, as Liszt's melodic ornamentations increase in complexity with each verse.
The last piece on this album, Rhapsodie espagnole, was composed in Rome in 1863 and published in 1867. It is a reflection of Liszt's impressions of Spain. As reflected by the subtitle 'Folies d'Espagne et Jura Aragonesa', it is based on two traditional Spanish folk-melodies. The tune known as 'La Folia', which derives from a Portuguese dance of the sixteenth-century, was originally a fast dance, which transformed into a slower, solemn, and somewhat sad form by the end of the seventeenth-century. Since then, it has fascinated many composers including A. Corelli, A. Vivaldi, C.P.E. Bach, L. Cherubim, E Sor, C. Nielsen and S. Rachmaninov. The second tune 'Jota Aragonesa' is the lively national dance-song of Aragon, a region of Spain located between Barcelona and Madrid. It has become known far beyond the borders of Spain. The rhapsody starts with a long cadenza-like introduction, followed by a set of free variations on these two attractive tunes, embellished with Liszt's characteristic dramatic flourishes and virtuoso ornamentation. This is indeed a grandioso and satisfying piece with a noble character.
Franz
LISZT
JDT 3135
About
This CD
Après une
Lecture du Dante - Fantasia quasi Sonata
from Annees de Pelerinage, Deuxieme Annee: Italie (No. 7)
The second book of Années de Pèlerinage is based on Liszt's impressions in Italy, in particular the literature, paintings. and sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. Although originally written between 1837 and 1B39, he continued to work on these pieces eventually publishing them in final form in 1858 Of the seven works in the second set of the Pelerinage trilogy, the last, and most extensive, work is a fantasy in the style of a sonata popularly known as the Dante Sonata.
Dante's Divine Comedy, the greatest poem of the middle ages was Liszt's inspiration for this piece, although the title is taken from the poem Après une Lecture de Dante (After Reading Dante) from Victor Hugo's 1837 volume of poetry Les Voix intérieures.
The fantasy is essentially a powerful meditation on two contrasting themes of Dante's journey through the Inferno: the gruesome torment and suffering of the eternally damned, and the tragic love story of Francesca da Rimini. Liszt's treatment of the infernal chaos and dark circles of hell traveled by Dante with the spirit of Virgil as his guide, is a mass of taxing technical challenges and formidable passages of virtuoso piano-writing.
Après une Lecture de Dante opens with a descending sequence of tritones, the so-called dev0's interval followed by a first subject in D minor: a description of the descent of the poet into Inferno followed by a furious build up. The chorale-like second subject marked Andante is first introduced forcefully in triple-forte at the end of the transition from the first subject, and builds into a beautiful singing melody relating the ill-fated love story of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini. Liszt creates textures that are orchestral in character and uses thematic transformation based on the first and the second subjects to develop the fantasy. These themes are transformed further in the Coda marked Allegro vivace, and ends in Andante with a hint of the music of the distant Paradise in D major.
Vallee d'Obermann
from Annees de Pèlerinage, Première Année: Suisse
(No 6)
Vallée d'Obermann is the sixth and the longest piece from the collection Années de Pe/errnage, Prem/ere Annee: Sulsse. Thls set of nlne pieces is based on Liszt's impressions of the sights and sounds of his stay in Swltzerland during 1835-36 In spite of its title (Valley of Obermann), this piece is not the musical representabon of a Swiss landscape, but an emotional experience inspired by the French writer Etienrle Pivert de Senancour's Obermann (1804), a popular romantic novel of the time. Obermann is a novel without a plot, it Is a collection of letters written by an imaginary solitary and melancholy charcter most likely autobiographical, from a lonely valley of the Jura Alps Liszt's treatment reflects the sentimental nature of this novel and the melancholy and solitude of its protagonist. Annees de Pelennage was published in 1855 and a later reprint included a quotation from Senancour and also verses from Lord Byron's narrtive poem Chllde Harold's Pilgrlmage, Canto lll 97~ as the epigrph to the sixth piece This quotation expresses the stark mood of Vallee d Obermann In terms of the inner struggles of Byron's character.
Vallée d'Obermann opens with a descending pattern that paints a desolate and melancholic picture. This main motif leads into a middle section in which it is transformed into a theme of great beauty, evoking emotions of ardor and yearning. The final section closes the piece in a triumphant manner with fiery chord passages and double octaves, but with a hint of the initial sadness and solitude expressed with the return to the original descending pattern at the very end.
Sonata in B minor
Liszt completed the monumental Sonata for piano in B minor in February
1853. One of the most extraordinary of Liszt's works, it was composed
in his Weimar years (1848-1861). during which time he completed many of
his most impressive large-scale works: the two piano concertos: both the
Faust and Dante symphonies; the Totentanz for piano and orchestra; and
his symphonic poems Additionally, he continued conducting at music festivals,
including in his repertoire the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Verdi, and
Wagner.
After the completion of the autograph of the sonata (dedicated to Robert Schumann, who had dedicated his Phantasie in C Major, Op. 17 to him), Liszt began to perform the work privately for friends and students, including Karl Klindworth, Ferdinand Laub, Joachim Raff, Dionys Pruckner, Eduard Remenyi, and the young Johannes Brahms. He had heard his piano sonata for the first time played by his student Karl Klindworth; but it was Hans von Bulow who first of officially performed the Sonata in Berlin on January 22, 1857 Von Bulow had arrived in Weimar to study with Liszt in June 1851 and, according to Liszt scholar William Newman, had made a deep and lasting impression on the composer.
Following its publication and premiere, critics lambasted the new Sonata in B minor Liszt lamented, "up to now, all the best-known French pianists, except Saint-Saens, have shrunk from playing anything of mine except transcriptions, since my original compositions are considered ridiculous and intolerable." The newspaper 'Nationalzeitung' referred to it as... "eine Herausforderung zum Zischen und Pochen" (an invitation to hissing and stomping) In spite of the conservative critics of the time, this work was a challenge to the established sonata form of the nineteenth century With the benefit of hindsight, it now seems obvious that it represents a unique landmark in the history of piano music as the synthesis of the sonata form movement with the multi-movement instrumental cycle, which Newman had dubbed the 'double-function' form.
Following the premise of a double-function form, the Sonata can be broken down roughly as follows: A 'First' movement, with a Slow introduction, Exposition, and Development; a 'Slow' movement, consisting of an Andante Sostenuto and a Quasi Adagio; and a 'Final' movement. with a Recapitulation, a Fugue (scherzando), and a Retransition which brings the sonata to an end in the way the form began As in Liszt's other larger works, the Sonata's thematic material consists of a series of short motifs, or themes, transformed in character and mood throughout the entire piece. In all, this Sonata is comprised of seven themes: the first, is the first three measures of the slow introduction: the second, is the beginning of the exposition in the key tone of B minor; the third, immediately follows the second theme. The latter themes bear a certain resemblance to these first three. Interestingly enough, the work starts with a pause, followed by a quarter note, and a pause, and another quarter note. The reappearance of similar pauses plays a dramatic role throughout the sonata Although the rhythms and motifs of these themes differ the descending scale of the introduction (G - F - Eb - D - C - Bb - Ab) without reference to a fixed key plays an important role in the remainder of the sonata. From a structural point of view, the first theme closes each significant major section of the piece. Liszt originally intended the sonata to end with a flourish and wrote a loud triple-forte conclusion, an idea that he ultimately abandoned in favor of the tranquil and introspective ending of the final published version.
Despite varying attempts to explain it, the form of the B minor Sonata still causes problems among musicologists. There is no universal agreement as to whether it should be considered a single movement in sonata form, or, a multi-movement work with a slow movement and a scherzo: or, whether the number of sections is four, or three Indeed, the whole premise of the double-function structure itself, with the fugue identified as the scherzo, is suspect. These contradictory positions, particularly those surrounding the fugue will undoubtedly long remain subject to debate.
Although Liszt educated many famous pianists, including Hans von Bulow, Carl Tausig, and Karl Klindworth, he did not produce a methodological work for piano-playing. In particular, there is no detailed information on his own interpretation of this sonata, for which, unlike most of his compositions, he had no programme, or explanation for his source of inspiration. Even specific information on the sonata in terms of the tempi is incomplete. Undoubtedly Liszt's principal concern lay in an artistic communication of mood, emotion, texture, and musical effect, not virtuosity alone.
Throughout recording history the B minor Sonata has been interpreted by generations of pianists whose intense and on-going interest in the work serves as a testimony to its timeless nature, and a collective tribute to the genius of Franz Liszt.
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