Liszt: Années de pèlerinage [CD]

Having played these three books of "Annees de Pelerinage" myself, and having written a thesis on them, I know these three "Annees" inside and out. I've also heard some incredibly BAD performances of some of these pieces (in particular, the "Dante" Sonata) and as such, I have "shields up" around me when I hear recitals or recordings with these pieces on them.

If you are like "Music Fan" from Clicksville, Kentucky, and you like your Liszt played with as much bombast and pyrotechnics as possible, you probably won't like these recordings. (These are also the kinds of recitals and recordings I do my best to avoid.)

If, on the other hand, you like your Liszt played with some restraint and with utmost sensitivity to the composer's musical intent -- you'll probably love these performances!

I, for one, have long since tired of hearing Liszt pounded out on a piano by technicians who are intent solely on making his pieces look - and sound - as difficult as possible, with next to no attention to the musicality behind the pyrotechnics. Liszt is all too often played by these hacks as though the technique is the means AND the end - and the music suffers.

This is an altogether different kind of Liszt-playing - where the technique is a means to a definite musical end. It works. Brendel's "Suisse" is enchanting: I can't remember when I've heard "Au bord d'une source" and "Les cloches de Geneve" played so evocatively. "Spozalizio" (from "Italia") and the three Petrarch sonnets are utterly spellbinding.

The most amazing Brendel performance is "Apres une lecture du Dante" - a piece I've learned to hate because of the way pianists overplay the thing! Brendel handles this piece with enough restraint so that the real musicality of the piece shines through. Brendel makes by far the most convincing case for the "Dante Sonata" I've heard in a LONG time.

Equally good is the Kocsis "Troiseme Annee". I have played this Annee many times in recitals, yet Kocsis' performance gave me several new ideas, particularly in "Aux cypres de la Villa d'Este, No 1" and the quixotic "Marche funebre (En memoire de Maximilien I)". The "Marche funebre" is a challenging piece to hold together, musically; and even more challenging to pull off during performance. The Kocsis performance of this piece works better than anything I've heard (or performed).

I prefer a slower tempo and somewhat more restrained, "profound" concept in "Sursum Corda" - but Kocsis manages to pull off his ideas and make them work. It may not be my interpretation of the piece - but it's an interpretation which works, and I respect that.

These performances might not be everyone's cup of tea - but I can say for what I've heard, both in live performance and on recording - this is the most gratifying performance of the complete "Annees" I've yet heard. This is destined to become one of my favorites CDs.

The story of the Years of Pilgrimage is very interesting in itself, let alone the music. The first year, Switzerland, is my favorite, and Brendel executes it beautifully. The Switzerland Liszt presents to us is loaded with thunderstorms (orage), springs (Au bord d'une source), lakes (Au lac de Wallenstadt), bells (Le cloches de Geneve), and other beautiful settings and objects. The roaring octaves of the "orage" was a great virtuosic treat. The most famous (and longest) piece by far in the first year is the Vallee d'Obermann, whose harmonies are incredibly beautiful.

The second year is really the cultural aspect of Italy. (no settings or anything like that) This year deals with Raphael, Michelangelo, Salvator Rosa, Petrarch, and lastly, (but very certainly not least) Dante. Brendel's Dante was hellish and divine. The Dante Fantasy suprised me when I first heard it, because I thought the piece would start with this picture in your mind of Dante roaming around in a very bitter woods, but it did not for me. Many times in the hellish sections of this piece it turns into major, which startled me because I though the part that depicted hell would be all in minor, but for a lot of the time it was not. Many times you could find out when it was heaven, sometimes with purgatory too. But most of the dante sonata summarizes the whole divine commedy altogether, and what Dante saw, learned, and how much wisdom he gained.The end of this piece is truly captivating, and like I said, the ending doesnt seem exactly heavenly, but rather, a sense of knowing Heaven, purgatory, and hell.

The third year is a later work of Franz Liszt, and is very interestng. Zoltan Kocsis takes up the feat of learning this year, and succeeds. All I knew of Zoltan Kocsis was his Bartok, so this was a wonderful surprise. Mostly what I knew of Franz Liszt's later music was his "Bagatelle Without Tonality", and nuage gris, so this suprised me. Angels, a funeral march, crying, ect. are depicted in the third year. The whole set of the years of pilgrimage concludes with the very interesting title "Lift up your Hearts", what probably says that when Liszt was in sixties and composing this, he knew (for a long time already) that life on this earth is not so bad if there are places like Switzerland and Italy, and if there are people on this wonderful earth who inspire others.

Franz Liszt was a prodigy, sight reading music by 6 and performing publically by 9, and his abilities as a youth were compared to those of Mozart. Certainly, Liszt did not branch out quite so staggeringly to other forms of composition as Mozart did, but his work for the piano is astounding.

"Years of Pilgrimage" as the title translates, is a cycle of 3 sonatas for piano, tone poems that sum up Liszt's emotions for the the places he visited and the emotions he felt as he traveled.

At the age of 12 Liszt's family, due to financial struggles, took young Franz on his first concert tour. The tour was a smashing success and Liszt was an instant phenomenon. Upon the family's arrival in Paris, Franz immediately became a friend of piano manufacturer Sebastian Erard, the father of the double-escapement which led to the modern piano. Liszt played these pianos exclusively and was known as an Erard artist.

Following several devastating setbacks, the death of his father (who first taught Franz piano) and the loss of the woman he loved, Liszt stopped playing altogether. But, in 1832, after hearing Paginini, Liszt was inspired to become a virtuoso on the piano, just as Paganini was on violin.
Liszt's dedication to piano led to somewhat of a rockstar status (women clambored for his handkerchiefs and silk gloves) and he was once again on the road as a touring performer. He is credited with being the father of the recital and the demand for his performances led to travels which thus led to the 3 pieces we now know as the 'Years of Pilgrimage'.

He began composing what would become "Premier Annee" (First Year) in 1835 when he was but 24. The entire piece would be published years later in 1855. "Premier Annee" contains 9 sonatas for piano. These pieces, in contrast to those composed for his Third Year, tout his youthful exuberance and his flair for the spectacular (as opposed to the confident experimental feel of his the final piece in the cycle). The pieces in the 'First Year' are virtuostic and 'showy', indicative of a young man who was famous, adored and, from some contemporaries, reviled due to, most likely, jealousy or prudish resistance to the new stardom that surrounded Liszt.
The 3rd pieece "Pastorale", 4th piece "Au Bord d'une Source", 7th piece "Eglogue", and the 9th piece "Le Mal du Pays" (literally homesickness) are wonderful, with cascading keystrokes and beautiful melodies that struck me as heart-felt and passionately written. All other pieces are also excellent and are, again, flourishing and sweeping expressions of a virtuoso composer and performer.

"Deuxième Annee" is a compilation of 7 sonatas, composed between 1837 and 1849 and published in 1856. Again, these pieces showcase Liszt's flair for showmanship. The 4th, 5th and 6th pieces are marvelous, all titled after Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), the man credited with perfecting the sonnet. Again, all other pieces are are wondeful.

"Troisième Annee", composed later in Liszt's life (1867 to 1877 and published in 1883) is a compilation of 7 sonatas that display the control and understanding of harmony versus the virtuosity of his earlier pieces which were complicated but less experimental and not quite so controlled. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th (which it seems to me influenced Saint-Saens), 5th (which is very dark), and 7th are superb. Again however, the entire piece is great.

This composition, which is a wonderful collection of Liszt's early and later works, spans his life beautifully and evokes emotions from joy to fear to sadness.

Brendel performs Years 1 and 2, and Kocsis performs Year 3. All are played passionately and are a joy to hear. The sound on all is clear and requires no volume adjustment between pieces.

This album is an excellent value and can be bought with confidence.

Enjoy!