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Genre: Classical Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 12-OCT-1993
CD Reviews
Modern playing on display...
Michael Rindt | 03/16/2002
(2 out of 5 stars)
"...and that ain't necessarily a good thing. The truth of the matter is that this performance is clean, technically sound, completely accurate to the score, and perfectly in line with what is demanded of a modern "complete" recording. However, it has nothing of the Gypsy that inspired the music, displays no freedom or thinking outside the printed page, and is lacking in true personality. This is not Campanella's fault - he is playing what current trends demand, to a world of competitions and recordings all expecting accuracy before interpretation. And I can't fault those listeners who are impressed by this performance, as they are products of the same environment. Indication of this is to be found in the famous 2nd, which calls for a cadenza that is rarely supplied these days. But these performances are not at all in the true Liszt tradition, and I'm positive the Master would have found them banal, since it took much more than fancy fingerwork to impress the greatest pianist ever. He was also the greatest PLAYER ever, interpreting and communicating the soul of the music before the brilliance. Even with his downright show-off pieces, Liszt was renown as a great communicator on the piano.
If you want to own a compilation disc of these pieces and desire to hear truly great playing, check out the recording put out by VAI Audio which has a different performer from the past century playing each Rhapsody. Or check out Cziffra, Howard, or even Brendel. Magnificent performances of individual Rhapsodies can be found by Cortot, Brailowsky, Horowitz, Argerich, Rachmaninoff, and Marc-Andre Hamelin (the most recent). Some of the recordings are not technologically modern, but the playing makes up for it."
Michele is a MAN!
Sal A. Mander | Seattle | 12/17/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I have owned this collection for over 30 years (my mother got it for me when I was only 10) and it is and always will be the standard by which I judge all others. The fact that it is the standard does not make it automatically the best, just the standard.
What is undeniable is MR. Campanella's skill and talent. Many of these pieces can best be described as fiendish by Mr. Liszt's victims (among them myself). Mr. Campanella escapes our fate and if Franz were around to hear it he would no doubt congratulate Campanella for having the courage to take them all on and the forebearance/talent to succeed admirably on virtually every level.
I doubt very seriously that if this session was so awful that Philips/Decca would have bothered to keep it in continuous production for so long or to have reissued it on CD. If they had included the original copious liner notes from the vinyl pressing there would be no doubt in anyone's mind as to Michele's gender. But while this is a "budget" offering with smaller liner notes, etc. it still holds an embarassment of riches and remains a notable standard.
It is definitely worth a listen. It continues to bring me enjoyment after all these years."
Mr. Hurwitz and Liszt
ari r. | 03/06/1999
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I find Szidon's interpretation far superior to Campanella's, and I counsel potential Amazon.com customers (particularly those who know little about classical music) to completely disregard Mr. Hurwitz's reviews."
Academic
J. Worth | 07/24/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"While it may be true that the age of pianistic romanticism died with Horowitz, it is hard to find a good reason to call the kind of playing on this album anything but academic.
To be sure, there are admirable qualities in this album, the courage to tackle all 19 Rhapsodies being one of them. Another is the pervasive cleanliness of execution. Unfortunately, the second item goes hand in hand with Mr. Campanella's absolute refusal to infuse his performance with any kind of individuality or expressiveness. Listening to any track on the CD, one gets the sense that the pianist had a claustrophobic relationship with the score, following each and every direction to the letter, as if he measured each bar with a timestick and was sure to start and end each crescendo to correspond exactly with where the ink fell on the page. The only directions, it seems, that were not followed, were ones that called for some individuality: Fermatas, "capriccioso," "cadenza," "a tempo ad libitum," and "rinforzando.".
Indeed, this kind of playing makes this particular album an excellent reference work. All the Rhapsodies are here, and those pianists who can play by ear need not even pick up a written score - you can simply go by what you hear on this recording. However, it is full of pedantic playing and is thoroughly unexciting. These kinds of pieces, indeed all of Romantic music, call for certain invisible ingredients that do not appear on the page. Without these, the performance becomes a mere unfinished skeleton, like some bare foundation provided by a computer, waiting for a human being to add his creativity and imagination. I never thought anyone could possibly make a boring recording of the Rakoczy March, but here it is.
I am forced to recommend the excellent alternatives provided by Cziffra, Horowitz and Brendel for anyone looking for the technical brilliance found here coupled with the invisible, spiritual Bohemian infusions required to make these pieces what they were meant to be."
Excellent
ari r. | Santiago, Chile | 09/02/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I think this version is awesome. The Campanella's performance is warm, frenzy, full of passion, intense, melancholic... everytime I listen to the rhapsody no. 2 my head is shooked....... though, the sound quality could be better (mainly on the disc 2), but I think the playing is outstanding, just as Liszt has to be played.
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1