Franz Liszt; Sigismond Thalberg - Opera Transcriptions & Fantasies (Marc-André Hamelin)

Information

Composer: Franz Liszt; Sigismond Thalberg

• Hexaméron, Morceau de concert, S392
• Liszt - Réminiscences de Norma de Bellini, S394
• Liszt - [Deuxième] Paraphrase de Concert, S432
• Thalberg - Fantaisie sur des thèmes de Moïse, Op. 33
• Thalberg - Grande fantaisie sur des motifs de Don Pasquale, Op. 67

Marc-André Hamelin, piano

Date: 2020

Label: Hyperion

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68320

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Review

If I were allowed a two-word review of this disc, it would read as follows: buy it. But then, as a long-term admirer of Marc-André Hamelin, you would expect me to write that. Except that I think this new release is among the very best of all the recordings he has given us, returning, as he does, to the kind of repertoire in which he made his name and in which he is sui generis. Just turned 59, the fabulous dexterity, the nonchalant dispatch of the most challenging writing and the ability to convey with the most economic means the sheer physical joy of playing this music are still with him.

Here, though, he appears to have added to his formidable arsenal. As expected, he conjures up a rich palette of tonal colours throughout, but to particularly bewitching effect in the two Thalberg fantasies where in places as many as four distinct voices are held separately within the same spectrum. The execution is so incredibly neat and well ordered, and yet sounds completely spontaneous, like an inspired improvisation. And if you are one of those who think Hamelin is too cerebral and emotionally cool, then this will disabuse you. I have never heard him play fff passages with such unbridled energy and vehemence. This is a master pianist at the height of his powers.

This cannily chosen programme gives Liszt and Thalberg the chance to shine at their individual best, with Hexaméron allowing us to hear them side by side in a compendium of contemporary Parisian piano styles. (Hyperion usefully divides the work into nine tracks to enable the listener to easily follow the sequence of variations by Thalberg, Pixis, Herz, Czerny, Chopin and Liszt himself.) There are too many highlights on this outstanding disc to list individually following this barnstorming opening, though the Don Pasquale fantasy is as sprightly as Earl Wild’s famous recording (Vanguard, 11/68, 8/92) and Hamelin’s own live performance at Husum in 1994 (Danacord, 4/97), while the Norma fantasy outstrips Hamelin’s earlier recording (Music & Arts, 1992). The final section of the Moses fantasy (first encountered on Raymond Lewenthal’s stunning but sonically inferior 1975 Angel recording) left me sitting there grinning like an idiot: just when you think all possibilities of Thalberg’s famous three-hands effect have been exhausted, he adds another (his audiences used to stand on their chairs to see how it was done). Here, Hamelin’s leggiero hemidemisemiquaver arpeggios are of the kind that, even if you had followed your mother’s advice and practised harder, you would never equal. Not in a million years.

In all this, he has been laudably supported by recording engineer Arne Akselberg in Berlin’s Teldex Studio with his longtime producer Andrew Keener. As I said, buy it!

-- Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Sep/Liszt-Thalberg-CDA68320.htm

https://www.classicalsource.com/cd/marc-andre-hamelin-liszt-thalberg-hyperion/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/liszt-thalberg-opera-transcriptions-fantasies-mw0003401295

https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/booksrecords2/classicalabeyond/30297-liszt-thalberg-opera-transcriptions-and-fantasies-marc-andre-hamelin

https://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Thalberg-Opera-Transcriptions-Fantasies/dp/B08BRH45Q7

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Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, and music teacher. Liszt gained renown in Europe for his virtuosic skill as a pianist and in the 1840s he was considered to be the greatest pianist of all time. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent composers of the "New German School". Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt

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Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.  In the 1830s and the 1840s, his style was a major force in European piano-playing and was imitated by many others. Between the late 1830s and 1850s Thalberg toured the world over with artists such as Bernard Ullmann, Strakosch and Henri Vieuxtemps, traveling to the United States, Brazil, Belgium, Holland, Russia and Spain. Aside from his dozens of piano compositions, many with orchestral accompaniment, Thalberg wrote several Lieder and two chamber works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismond_Thalberg

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/sigismund-thalberg-mn0001801365/biography

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Marc-André Hamelin (born September 5, 1961 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian virtuoso pianist and composer. Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical brilliance of his performances of the classic repertoire. He has made recordings of a wide variety of composers with the Hyperion label. He is well known for his attention to lesser-known composers especially of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and for performing works by pianist-composers. Hamelin has also composed several works, including a set of piano études in all of the minor keys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_Hamelin

http://www.marcandrehamelin.com/

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