Sonate H-Moll In B Minor: Lento assa - Allegro energico-; Andante sostenuto-; Allegro energico
Nuages gris
La notte
La lugubre gondola 2
Funerailles
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: LISZT,F.
Title: SON PNO/FUNERAILLES/NOTTE/ETC
Street Release Date: 04/14/1992
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: LISZT,F.
Title: SON PNO/FUNERAILLES/NOTTE/ETC
Street Release Date: 04/14/1992
"This recording is just unbelievable! It is perhaps one of the most perfect recordings of the piece, combining the fire of Argerich, the musical insight of Richter, and the absolute command of sound and color comparable only to Horowitz. Under Zimerman's fingers, the piece becomes an organic whole from beginning to end. If you are a serious musician and collector of fine music, I highly recommend getting this recording."
Simply very good
Flotan | Vienna | 03/08/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"That's really one of the best Liszt Sonatas I own on CD. It's probably the best, but that's very hard to tell, if you know Horowitz (let's go...), Argerich (see what my Steinway can bear), PLETNEV (maybe the most virtuosic interpretation), Gilels ("broad"), Curzon (incredibly risky), Cziffra (3 hands), Pogorelich (surprise), etc...
What I really like about this CD is the beautiful sound quality of the piano. Also listen to the other tracks, it's so abysmal Liszt-
I love it- and you will love it too...."
Simply amazing - and not only the Sonata
Gergely Kiss | Hungary | 12/25/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Incredible - even compared to Horowitz's this Sonata-recording is breathtaking, but i would like to point out that the other performances on this CD are amazing as well: You hardly can get a good recording of the piano version of La Notte and Zimerman plays it so movingly (it is surely the best what You can find by now), La Lugubre Gondola is also played with much understanding although i prefer it to be a little slower and gloomier (like the Erno Szegedi-recording), the Funerailles is PERFECT!!! No other words to describe! Zimerman is not affraid of using the pedal (most pianists are) as indicated in the beginning of the piece, the funeral march makes one cry, the Chopinesque left-hand octaves in the second half are played with incredible evenness (i only heard such delicacy in that passage from Bolet before). The Nuages Gris is played well as well, although a bit too fast in the beginning i felt.
Alltogether - IF YOU LIKE LISZT'S MUSIC YOU HAVE TO GET THIS DISC."
A perfect recording
Anh Tran | 09/18/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Zimerman has studied piano construction and design "that is the only way I can attain the sound I have in mind" and always travels with his own grand piano. He is equally careful with recordings. It took ten years for Zimerman to make a recording of Liszt's B minor Sonata that satisfied him. This CD is a must for everyone !!!"
Technique: A+; Interpretation: B-
John Grabowski | USA | 09/12/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a very good performance of the Liszt Sonata that could have been a *great* performance of the Liszt Sonata. Zimmie supposedly spent ten years preparing this work. I believe him, just as I believe him when he says he listened to something like 70 recordings of the Brahms 1st Piano Concerto before making his own recording. In both cases I think he'd have done better to listen to fewer recordings and just attack the piece from his *gut* more. This performance is great technically, with the pianist showing his superbly subtle command of dynamics--some of the shadings are just amazingly nuanced. Listen, for example, to how he handles the first lyrical section, at around six minutes in: gorgeous shading! Another highlight comes at 16:50--such liquid tone. (Why couldn't he have played his Debussy this way??) Another highlight: at 22:00 coming out of a 100-mile-per-hour tear, he slams the brakes, and the deceleration is like a Lamborghini under the control of Mario Andretti, only to roar back to 100 mph again. It's all very thrilling, and let's not get too cerebral here: the Liszt Sonata was in large part a show-off vehicle for the pianist's technique, and Zims does not disappoint in that department. There are times he just explodes with passion and wild abandon, such as the leadup to the recap at around 21:00--thrilling stuff.
Yet Zimerman's weakness, to my ear, is in his interpretation. He over-thinks, over-interprets. So much here is too calculated, and I can't help but wonder if this happens after you've been "preparing" the piece for ten years. There are moments, such as the statement of one of the motifs at 22:40, that are so de-li-ber-ate as to make me wince; it's like an actor who feels he has to emote every line or a writer who must put every third word in italics. Ditto the famous coda at around 26:25, and some lyrical sections, where he roooolls those chords as if to highlight in glow-in-the-dark orange the piece's Romantic pedigree. At times likes these I feel like Zimerman is pounding the music into us with a mallet because he doesn't trust us as listeners. Interpreters such as Richter (particularly Aldeburgh 1966 live, now sadly out of print), Arrau, Levy (also out of print), and even Yundi Li don't feel this need. For that reason, a very good performance missed on being one for the ages.
The other pieces are beautifully played but suffer from the same over-interpretation. I wish KZ would just let the works breathe more; instead I feel like he's imposing his heavy-handed interpretations on them. Works such as Nuages Gris are very atmospheric, and here he never gets out of the way and lets the music speak.
Still, this is worthwhile to add to your collection if you're a Liszt B minor fan, particularly since the two best performances of this piece (the aforementioned Levy and 1966 Aldeburgh Richter) are out of print. Get this recording, but stay open to other interpretations--and keep hoping for the Richter and Levy to come back in print."