Leslie Howard & Mattia Ometto - Liszt: Faust Symphony, Dante Symphony, Beethoven Symphony No.9 (2024) [24/44]

The pre-eminent Lisztian of our day returns to Brilliant Classics for a symphonic sequel of transcriptions.

In 2018, Brilliant Classics issued Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometto playing the 12 symphonic poems of Liszt in the composer’s own transcriptions for piano duo (95748). The set won glowing reviews: ‘Not only do Leslie Howard and Mattia Ometto navigate Liszt’s technical challenges with fluency and ease,’ wrote Jed Distler for Classics Today, ‘but they also treat the scores seriously… Howard’s excellent annotations and Brilliant Classics’ budget price further clinch my recommendation for collectors.’

As before, Leslie Howard supplies his own, invaluable insights to accompany this trio of symphonies in Liszt’s transcriptions for piano duo. As with the symphonic poems, Liszt remains utterly faithful to the originals, preserving the spirit and sound of the orchestral scores without compromising the texts and, in the case of Beethoven’s Ninth, being scrupulously attentive to his hero’s great masterpiece. Howard and Ometta observe all of Beethoven’s (and Liszt’s) repeat markings in the Scherzo, presenting the fullest and most authentic text available.

The Faust Symphony has long been recognised as Liszt’s greatest orchestral work, and it ranks with the B minor Piano Sonata and the oratorio Christus as the noblest of his musical achievements. The two-piano version reached its final form by 1863, before Liszt added a short, ethereal passage to the coda of the second movement in 1880, and these bars are added in the present performance.

By its side, the Dante Symphony has often been overlooked and unjustly disparaged. Yet few compossers have depicted hell and damnation as vividly as Liszt (despite the composer’s own deep and optimistic Christian faith) in the opening Inferno movement, and its companion portrait of Purgatory is a wholly original musical conception whose harmonies prefigure many things later familiar from Wagner’s Parsifal or the symphonies of Bruckner.

Rather less familiar is Liszt’s transcription of his Rákóczy March for two pianos and eight hands, for which Howard and Ometto are joined by Leonora Armellini and Igor Roma. Unlike his solo-piano transcription of Beethoven’s Ninth, this piano duo version incorporates all the vocal parts within the instrumental texture.

Tracklist:
01. Liszt- Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charakterbildern, S.647- I. Faust
02. Liszt- Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charakterbildern, S.647- II. Gretchen
03. Liszt- Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charakterbildern, S.647- III. Mephistopheles und Schlußchor
04. Liszt- Eine Faust-Symphonie in drei Charakterbildern, S.647- IV. Zweiter Schluß
05. Liszt- Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina Commedia, S.648- I. Inferno
06. Liszt- Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina Commedia, S.648- II. Purgatorio —
07. Liszt- Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina Commedia, S.648- III. Magnificat —
08. Liszt- Eine Symphonie zu Dantes Divina Commedia, S.648- Zweiter Schluß
09. Liszt- Rákóczi-Marsch, S.652b
10. Liszt- Beethovens 9te. Sinfonie, Op. 125 für 2 Pianoforte gesetzt von F. Liszt, S.657- I. Allegro ma non troppo un poco Maestoso
11. Liszt- Beethovens 9te. Sinfonie, Op. 125 für 2 Pianoforte gesetzt von F. Liszt, S.657- II. Molto vivace - Presto
12. Liszt- Beethovens 9te. Sinfonie, Op. 125 für 2 Pianoforte gesetzt von F. Liszt, S.657- III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante Moderato
13 Liszt- Beethovens 9te. Sinfonie, Op. 125 für 2 Pianoforte gesetzt von F. Liszt, S.657 IV. Presto – Allegro ma non troppo – Tempo 1º – Vivace – Tempo 1º – Adagio cantabile – Allegro assai – Tempo 1º Allegro – Allegro assai – Poco Adagio – Tempo 1º – Presto – Recitativo – Allegro – Allegro assai vivace alla Marcia – Andante maestoso – Allegro energico – Allegro ma non tanto – Poco Adagio – Tempo 1º – Poco Adagio – Poco Allegro stringendo il tempo sempre più Allegro – Prestissimo – Maestoso – Prestissimo


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