Search - Louis Kentner :: Louis Kentner plays Balakirev, Lyapunov & the Liszt Sonatas

Though born in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and having studied and launched his career in Budapest, Louis Kentner decided to relocate to London in the 1930s and for the next 50 years reained a part of the British musical establishment. He was a mainstay of the Columbia catalogue throughout the 1930s and 1940s where he recorded a wide range of repertoire including the Hammerklavier sonata and manyh premiere recordings of major Liszt works. In the 1950s he went on to record for HMV, both as a soloist and as a duo partner to Menuhin, whose brother-in-law he had become through marriage. Almost all the recordings on this release date from the end of the 78rpm era and have been unfortunately neglected as a result. Two major works of the late romantic Russian repertoire, the Balakirev Sonata and the Lyapunov Transcendental Studies, here received their premier recordings, and to many listeners, they have yet to be surpassed. Kentner had an invincible Lisztian technique; there was no one better to tackle Lyapunovs homage to Liszts own Transcendentals. Of particular interest is Kentners only recording of the Liszt sonata, and a magnificent one it turns out to be. Issued on 78s in 1951 when most other labels had switched to LP, this recording had a very short life and has never previously been reissued. It is a major addition to the available discography of Liszt sonatas and to Kentners legacy.