(CD1) Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3; Henze: Tristan; (CD2) Wagner: Tristan und Isolde Prelude (Piano arrangement by Zoltán Kocsis); Mahler: Symphony No. 10: Adagio (Piano arrangement by Ronald Stevenson); Liszt: Harmonies du Soir. Igor Levit, piano; Franz Welser-Möst, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (in the Henze). Sony Classics 19439943482.
By Karl W. Nehring
Let me say at the outset that Tristan is an album of contrasts and extremes that is at the same time strangely unified. If that opening sentence makes me sound confused or perhaps even a touch insane, blame it on my having listened to this album over and over in a vain attempt to decide what sort of recommendation to give it. It’s a strange, wonderful album, offputting and endearing, but certainly not boring. You can certainly get a sense of what I mean by this from the heading over the liner notes, which shouts out in capital letters:
“SINGING, LAMENTING AND SCREAMING
IGOR LEVIT PLAYS SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH”
Although the program itself opens with Liszt’s familiar and soothing Liebestraum No. 3, as the liner notes immediately make apparent, the centerpiece of the album is its title piece, Tristan, a six-movement, 50-minute work for piano, electronic tapes, and orchestra. Actually, the composition consists of six separate movements or ,as Henze calls them, preludes: I. Prologue, II. Lament, III Prelude and Variations, IV. Tristan’s Folly, V. Adagio - Burla 1 - Burla II - Ricercare I – Burla III – Ricercare II, VI. Epilogue. Although the presence of Levit on piano and Welser-Möst with the orchestra in the cover credits might lead one to assume that Tristan is a piano concerto, such is not really the case. The six pieces were composed separately and then assembled together – including not just then piano and orchestral parts, but also the tapes.
The liner notes explain that “Henze has left us a detailed description of the genesis of his Tristan, including much of its autobiographical background. He prepared three tapes with Peter Zinovieff, a well-known pioneer of electronic music in London whose inventions had a considerable influence on the pop music of those years, notably on Pink Floyd. Polyphonic music from the Renaissance, complex contrapuntal writing for a veritable battery of percussion instruments, Chopin’s funeral march and the aforementioned Prelude to Act Three of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde all found their way onto these tapes. Henze then added the virtuosic orchestral parts minutely timed to these tapes, which functioned as a fixed bass. To the still-incomplete first Prelude for solo piano he now added two further preludes, with the result that the work grew to a total of six sections, a hybrid of electronic music, a concerto, and an example of music theatre that defies all of our conventional ideas on the subject of genre.”
Yes, that sounds like quite a big mess, and there are times when it sounds like, yes, a mess. But there are also passages of delicacy and wonder. For the most part, Levit’s piano seems to float above the rest of the score, which at times includes quotations from other musical works – for example, the opening of Brahms’s Symphony No 1. pops up out of nowhere and then just as quickly disappears back into the void. Tristan is a strange piece – interesting to listen to a few times, perhaps – but not likely to be something that many music lovers will return to very often, if at all.
The second disc will likely have much more appeal to a much broader audience. After hearing Henze’s complex, multi-layered, and at times frenzied take on Wagner’s Tristan, to hear Levit play the Tristan Prelude in an arrangement for solo piano is like leaving the frenzy and frustrations of rush-hour traffic for an enjoyable drive down a scenic highway. Many music lovers have no doubt become familiar with this music not from attending a production of opera itself, watching a video production of it, or even from listening to a recording of the opera, but rather by listening to a recording of orchestral excerpts. To hear Wagner’s lush orchestration reduced down to keyboard scale offers an intimate gaze into the heart of the music, music that Levit brings to life with a blend of passion and precision.
Next up is the opening movement Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 in an arrangement for piano by the late Scottish composer and pianist Ronald Stevenson, whose Passacaglia on DSCH as recorded by Levit along with Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues was reviewed previously here: https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2021/09/recent-releases-no-19-cd-reviews.html. Unfortunately, Mahler’s orchestration is just too powerful and dramatic to be portrayed by a piano; it just doesn’t quite satisfy. Wagner’s score worked for the piano, but Mahler’s – sorry, it’s no fault of Levit’s, but it just doesn’t work. Fortunately, Levit chooses to end the program with a work written expressly for the piano, the eleventh of Liszt’s Trancendental Etudes, titled Harmonies du Soir (“Evening Harmonies”). This is a gorgeous piece of music, full of rippling arpeggiated chords, reflective and calming, bringing the program to a peaceful, satisfying conclusion. The sound quality is excellent, as are the liner notes. Although I have reservations about the Henze, it is a piece the adventurous among our readers may want to give an audition. The Mahler, although unconvincing in itself, might certainly be of interest to Mahlerians looking for some more insight into the music. The Liszt and Wagner are beyond reproach. No, this is not a release for everyone, but for some, it will be quite a source of excitement. You know who you are.
KWN
By Karl W. Nehring
“SINGING, LAMENTING AND SCREAMING
IGOR LEVIT PLAYS SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH”
Although the program itself opens with Liszt’s familiar and soothing Liebestraum No. 3, as the liner notes immediately make apparent, the centerpiece of the album is its title piece, Tristan, a six-movement, 50-minute work for piano, electronic tapes, and orchestra. Actually, the composition consists of six separate movements or ,as Henze calls them, preludes: I. Prologue, II. Lament, III Prelude and Variations, IV. Tristan’s Folly, V. Adagio - Burla 1 - Burla II - Ricercare I – Burla III – Ricercare II, VI. Epilogue. Although the presence of Levit on piano and Welser-Möst with the orchestra in the cover credits might lead one to assume that Tristan is a piano concerto, such is not really the case. The six pieces were composed separately and then assembled together – including not just then piano and orchestral parts, but also the tapes.
Yes, that sounds like quite a big mess, and there are times when it sounds like, yes, a mess. But there are also passages of delicacy and wonder. For the most part, Levit’s piano seems to float above the rest of the score, which at times includes quotations from other musical works – for example, the opening of Brahms’s Symphony No 1. pops up out of nowhere and then just as quickly disappears back into the void. Tristan is a strange piece – interesting to listen to a few times, perhaps – but not likely to be something that many music lovers will return to very often, if at all.
The second disc will likely have much more appeal to a much broader audience. After hearing Henze’s complex, multi-layered, and at times frenzied take on Wagner’s Tristan, to hear Levit play the Tristan Prelude in an arrangement for solo piano is like leaving the frenzy and frustrations of rush-hour traffic for an enjoyable drive down a scenic highway. Many music lovers have no doubt become familiar with this music not from attending a production of opera itself, watching a video production of it, or even from listening to a recording of the opera, but rather by listening to a recording of orchestral excerpts. To hear Wagner’s lush orchestration reduced down to keyboard scale offers an intimate gaze into the heart of the music, music that Levit brings to life with a blend of passion and precision.
Next up is the opening movement Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 in an arrangement for piano by the late Scottish composer and pianist Ronald Stevenson, whose Passacaglia on DSCH as recorded by Levit along with Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues was reviewed previously here: https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2021/09/recent-releases-no-19-cd-reviews.html. Unfortunately, Mahler’s orchestration is just too powerful and dramatic to be portrayed by a piano; it just doesn’t quite satisfy. Wagner’s score worked for the piano, but Mahler’s – sorry, it’s no fault of Levit’s, but it just doesn’t work. Fortunately, Levit chooses to end the program with a work written expressly for the piano, the eleventh of Liszt’s Trancendental Etudes, titled Harmonies du Soir (“Evening Harmonies”). This is a gorgeous piece of music, full of rippling arpeggiated chords, reflective and calming, bringing the program to a peaceful, satisfying conclusion. The sound quality is excellent, as are the liner notes. Although I have reservations about the Henze, it is a piece the adventurous among our readers may want to give an audition. The Mahler, although unconvincing in itself, might certainly be of interest to Mahlerians looking for some more insight into the music. The Liszt and Wagner are beyond reproach. No, this is not a release for everyone, but for some, it will be quite a source of excitement. You know who you are.
KWN
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