EARL WILD � LISZTTHE 1985 SESSIONS

DISC 1From “Années de Pèlerinage” Second Year: Italy (S161/R10b)

Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata) 15:58[“Dante Sonata”] (Andante maestoso - Presto agitato assai - Tempo I (Andante) - Andante (quasi improvvisato) - Andante - Recitativo - Adagio - Allegro moderato - Più mosso - Tempo rubato e molto ritenuto - Andante - Più mosso - Allegro - Allegro vivace - Presto - Andante (Tempo I))

Sonetto 47 del Petrarca 6:20(Preludio con moto - Sempre mosso con intimo sentimento)

Sonetto 104 del Petrarca 6:31(Agitato assai - Adagio - Agitato)

Sonetto 123 del Petrarca 7:04(Lento placido - Sempre lento - Più lento - (Tempo iniziale))

From “Années de Pèlerinage” Third Year (S163/R10e)

Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este 7:41(Fountains of the Villa d’Este) (Allegretto)

Ballade No.2 in B minor (S171/R16) 13:59(Allegro moderato - Lento assai - Tempo I - Lento assai - Allegretto - Allegro deciso - Allegretto - Allegretto sempre legato - Allegro moderato - Un poco più mosso - Andantino)

From “Liebesträume, 3 Notturnos” (S541/R211)

Liebesträume (Notturno) No.2 in E flat Major (2nd Version) 4:27(“Seliger Tod”) (Quasi lento, abbandonandosi)

Liebesträume (Notturno) No.3 in A flat Major 4:26(“O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst!”) (Poco allegro, con affetto)

Concert Étude No.3 in D flat Major (“Un Sospiro”) (S144/R5) 5:14(Allegro affettuoso)

Total Playing Time : 72:16

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DISC 2Bach/Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (S463/R120) 11:12

Fantasia (Grave) 5:49

Fugue (Allegro) 5:23

Sonata in B minor (S178/R21) 28:27

Lento assai - Allegro energico - Grandioso - Recitative - Andante sostenuto - Quasi Adagio 18:35

Fugue: Allegro energico - Più mosso - Stretta quasi Presto - Presto - Prestissimo - 9:50Andante sostenuto - Allegro moderato - Lento assai

Die Loreley (Second Version (S532/R209)) 6:31(Nicht schleppend)

From “Harmonies poétiques et religieuses” (S173/R14)

Funérailles 12:29(Introduzione (Adagio) - Lagrimoso - Poco a poco più moto - Allegro energico assai - Più lento)

From “Six Chants Polonais” (S480/R145) from Seventeen Polish Songs, Opus 74

Chopin/Liszt: My Joys (“Moja pieszczotka” (Nocturne)) 4:21(Quasi allegretto)

Mephisto Polka (S217/R39) 4:03(Allegretto)

Consolation No.3 in D flat Major (S172/R12) 4:32(Lento placido)

Total Playing Time: 72:03

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Franz Liszt

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� FRANZ LISZT �

“In Franz Liszt we have not only the most important figure among pianists in the nineteenthcentury, but a universal genius, who summed up in himself the whole development of piano play-ing since the invention of the instrument.”

– Edward Burlingame Hill (1872-1960), American composer and teacher.

Franz Liszt’s influence on the 19th century was overwhelming and through his numerous stu-dents, his strong musical presence influenced piano playing into the 20th century. He developedpiano playing not only through his own compositions, but also through his teaching. His compo-sitions influenced many other composers. Additionally, Liszt helped promote the works of manycomposers during his years as a touring virtuoso. Later, in his position as head of the Weimarorchestra and opera house, he was an important influence on contemporary tastes, tirelessly pro-moting the works of his contemporaries. In his later years, Liszt did his best to promote the worksof the newer Russian school of composers, including Borodin and Mussorgsky. Numerous othercomposers – Grieg, Smetana, Glazunov, and of course, Wagner, have copiously written about thevalue they placed on Liszt’s moral encouragement as an important aid in their careers. As one ofLiszt’s most illustrious students, Moritz Rosenthal (1862-1946) once wrote, “When one was withLiszt, one felt the power of his overwhelming personality...”

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a grateful subject for biographers, factual and fictional. He pos-sessed every feature of a romantic personage, as we of the 21st century are apt to portray the greatpersonalities of the 19th century. He had a brilliant beginning as a child prodigy; he was kissed onhis brow by Beethoven and studied with Beethoven’s greatest student, Carl Czerny; as a youth hewas the prince of pianists and the leading artistic figure in European capitals at the time whenEuropeans were, according to our dearest beliefs, joyous and preoccupied with glamor rather thanwork or war; he wore flowing hair and had a wild appearance about him; he loved women, andwomen loved him; and in his middle age, became an Abbé, as some sinners do in romantic novels.Liszt wrote music with expressive and meaningful titles, often with a poem for an epigraph; and hewas unquestionably, with Wagner, the co-author of the “music of the future,” so designated by thedespairing contemporaries for its quality of hugeness of design and grandiloquence of idiom.

As a pianist, Liszt was unique (in the correct use of the word). According to Felix Mendelssohn(1809-1847), “Liszt possesses a degree of velocity and complete independence of finger, and athoroughly musical feeling, which cannot be equalled. In a word, I have heard no performer whose

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musical perceptions extend to the verytips of his fingers and emanate directlyfrom them as Liszt’s do.” What he wasable to do as a pianist-interpreter, Lisztwas able to do even better as a com-poser. The hundreds of scores he wroteillustrated an astonishing command ofthe keyboard and an even more extraor-dinary musical mind. Not only did Lisztcompose numerous original works, buthe was throughout his life continuallycompelled to transcribe his own andother composers’ music for the piano.How Liszt managed to find the time toaccomplish all this can only beexplained by an acceptance that a geniusworks in mysterious ways.

Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante(Fantasia quasi Sonata), which is oftensimply entitled “Dante Sonata,” is thefinal work in the second book (Italy) ofhis Années de Pèlerinage (“Years ofPilgrimage”). According to Liszt biogra-pher and cataloguer, Humphrey Searle,“The Dante Sonata [Disc 1, ] hasno programme as such, but in it Liszt

clearly expressed his reactions to the “strange tongues, horrible cries, words of pain, tones of anger”which Dante described in his Inferno.” Liszt first sketched his Après une lecture du Dante (“Afterreading Dante”) in 1839, completing the work some ten years later. The “reading” refers to VictorHugo’s poems inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” So impressed with Dante’s writings was Liszt,that he wrote to Hector Berlioz: “Dante will perhaps one day find musical expression in theBeethoven of the future.” Ingeniously based on three basic ideas, the Dante Sonata begins with jar-ring, descending-octave tritones (known as diabolus in musica). Later on, we hear these tritones inless-dissonant intervals as Liszt introduces the “Paradiso” tremolos. The second basic idea heard inthe work is a grim, chromatic descending figure played in groups of two repeated octaves in the

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Earl Wild with Lord Londonderry at theLondonderry Family Estate, 1986

right hand that alternate with dark-colored chords in the left hand. For the final basic idea, Lisztabandons the stormy D minor in favor of F-sharp major, counterbalancing, so-to-speak, Hell withthe love that is evoked. The rising figures bring us to the end and “Paradiso.”

Liszt’s Three Petrarch Sonnets (S161/R10b) began life as songs composed in 1838-9 before theirmagical transcription into ardent piano pieces in 1858 and inclusion in the second book (Italy) ofhis Années de Pèlerinage (“Years of Pilgrimage”). Based on Francesco Petrarca’s (1304-1374) emo-tional sonnet “Pace non trovo” [I find no peace] the Sonetto 47 del Petrarca [Disc 1, ] is a tri-umph of Romantic contrasts (peace and war, hate and love, grief and laughter, and death and life).The Sonetto 104 del Petrarca [Disc 1, ] is based on the sonnet “Benedetto sia ‘l giorno”[Blessed be the day], an ardent lyric written by Petrarch to his beloved Laura five-hundred yearsbefore Liszt’s time. The Sonetto 123 del Petrarca [Disc 1, ] is based on the sonnet “I vidi in terra angelici costumi” [I beheld on earth angelic grace]. In this piece we hear Liszt and hisimpressions of Italy, Liszt and his love, and most of all Liszt and his pianism – emotional music withgenuine poetic feeling.

The years 1839-1847 are generally recognized as Liszt’s “period of transcendental execution,”during which time he gave well over a thousand concerts throughout most of Western Europe,Turkey, Poland and Russia. The First Year: (Suisse) of the three collections entitled “Années dePelerinage” (Years of Pilgrimage) was begun in 1848 (the year following this highly active period),as the first flowerings of a more introspective approach to composition, moving gradually awayfrom the wristbreaking pyrotechnics of previous compositions. The Second Year: (Italie) was com-pleted in 1858. Between 1867 and 1877 he completed his third set in the series, a more austere andimpressionistic group of pieces, reflective of the mature musician. The third group was publishedin 1883 and four of the seven pieces are music of mourning or lamentation. Les jeux d’eaux à laVilla d’Este (Fountains of the Villa d’Este) [Disc 1, ] is an impressionistic rendering of the fountains amidst gloomy cypresses as seen from Liszt’s quarters at the Villa d’Este. Liszt pref-aced the music with a fragment from the Gospel of St. John: “But whosoever drinketh of the waterthat I shall give him...”

The Ballade No.2 in B minor (S171/R16) [Disc 1, ] was composed in 1853. It is a strug-gle of opposites (much like the Sonetto 104 del Petrarca is a triumph of contrasts) – good and evil,the masculine and the feminine, the spiritual and the worldly. In his famous book on Liszt,Sacheverell Sitwell describes this work as being “concerned as it were less with personal sufferingthan with great happenings on the epical scale, barbarian invasions, cities in flames – tragedies ofpublic, more than private import.”

The three Liebesträume, are impassioned love songs without words. Yet, they began theirexistence as songs with words. Liszt published them in 1850 with the title Drei Lieder für eine

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Tenor – oder Sopranstimme. The first two songs were settings of poems by Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862) and the third, to a poem by Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876). Liszt provides the completetexts of the Uhland poems and the first four verses of the Freiligrath’s poem before the piano pieces.Liszt called his Liebesträume nocturnes (“Notturni” ), music full of warm evening colors.

Liebesträume No.2 in E Flat Major [Disc 1, ] is a setting of Uhland’s Seliger Tod(“Blissful Death”):

Gestorben war ich I diedVor Liebeswonne; Of love’s bliss;Begraben lag ich I lay buriedIn ihren Armen; In her arms;Erwecket ward ich I was awakenedVon ihren Küssen; By her kisses;Den Himmel sah ich I saw heavenIn ihren Augen. In her eyes.

A work of wonderful beauty and exquisite use of light and shadow, it paints a musical pictureof an exalted love and happiness in death, awakened by a kiss.

Liebesträume No.3 in A Flat Major [Disc 1, ] is the most celebrated of the three works. It is asetting of Freiligrath’s romantic poem O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst! (“O love, as long as you can love”):

O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst! Oh love, as long as you can love!O lieb, so lang du lieben magst! Oh love, as long as you may love!Die Stunde kommt, die Stunde kommt, The hour will come, the hour will comeWo du an Gräbern stehst und klagst When you stand by their graves and mourn.

Und sorge, daß dein Herze glüht Be sure that your heart with ardour glows,Und Liebe hegt und Liebe trägt, Is full of love and cherishes love,So lang ihm noch ein ander Herz As long as one other heartIn Liebe warm entgegen schlägt. Beats with yours in tender love.

Und wer dir seine Brust erschließt, If anyone opens his heart to you,O tu ihm, was du kannst, zu lieb! Show him kindness whenever you can!Und mach ihm jede Stunde froh, And make his every hour happyUnd mach ihm keine Stunde trüb. And never give him one hour of sadness.

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Und hüte deine Zunge wohl! And guard well your tongue!Bald ist ein hartes Wort entflohn. A cruel word is quickly said.O gott, es war nicht bös gemeint; Oh God, it was not meant to hurt;Fer Andre aber geht und weint. But the other one departs in grief.

Twice in the course of this impassioned work the melody is interrupted by a brief interludebetween the verses, as it would seem, giving us a fleeting glimpse of the summer night with itssubtle perfumes and vague whisperings. The work closes with a passage of soft, sweet, restfulharmonies, a sigh of content in the final fruition of love’s dream.

Concert Étude No.3 in D-flat Major (S144/R5) [Disc 1, ] is subtitled Un sospiro(“A Sigh”). Published around 1848 as part of a set of three Études de Concert, Un Sospiro, quicklybecame the most often performed of the set. This mood piece is beautifully melodious and flowing,containing some difficult cross-hand passages. One contemporary critic described it as a “ripple ofsweet sadness that seems as if it might roll on long after it has passed by.”

Stories about Franz Liszt’s keyboard wizardry have been so numerous, and frequently of suchan unbelievable nature, that it is always interesting to note what his contemporaries thought of hisplaying. English pianist Oscar Beringer (1844-1922) heard Liszt in 1870 and set down his impres-sions: “Words cannot describe him as a pianist; he was incomparable and unapproachable. I haveseen whole rows of his audience, men and women alike, affected to tears, when he chose to bepathetic; in stormy passages he was able by his art to work them up to the highest pitch of excite-ment. Through the medium of his instrument he played upon every human emotion.”

In musical circles respects are paid to Liszt’s contributions as a composer, along with Wagner, of“the music of the future” (in opposition to more conservative currents in composition representedby Brahms), and to his far-reaching explorations of the capabilities of the piano. Many people, daz-zled by his flamboyant public career as a piano virtuoso, found his other interests in composition,religion, and conducting somewhat superficial and tainted by the same flamboyance. Whether thisjudgement was correct or not, Liszt had an extraordinary range of activity throughout his life, and,as a result, is widely regarded as symbolic of Romanticism.

His many interests, even as a young man, are evident in quotation from a letter to his friend,Pierre Wolff: “My mind and my fingers are working like two lost spirits: the Bible, Locke, Plato,Byron, Hugo, Lamartine, Beethoven, Bach, Hummel, Mozart, Weber, are all around me. I studythem, meditate on them, devour them avidly. Beside this I practice the piano 4 to 5 hours...”Liszt studied Bach, in fact knew most of Bach’s keyboard works by heart by the time he was six-teen. Liszt also learned how to play the organ and became almost as proficient and virtuosic onthe organ as on the piano. He composed eleven organ works during his life time, including the

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monumental Prelude andFugue on the name B-A-C-H(1852). In addition to thisoriginal work, Liszt alsotranscribed six preludes andfugues by Bach and theFantasia and Fugue in Gminor (BWV542) (S463/R120) [Disc 2, & ].Liszt published the firstversion of the piano tran-scription in 1863 in thecelebrated Lebert and Stark“Method for the Piano-forte.” He edited the finalrevised edition in 1872.

Liszt’s Sonata in Bminor, a work that has beencalled “one of the mightiestpeaks in the literature of thepiano,” is a compositionwhich takes us on a dizzyingjourney of images and emo-tions. Writing to Liszt,

Richard Wagner found the Sonata to be “beyond all conception beautiful; great, lovely; deep andnoble – sublime, even as yourself.” The Sonata was written by Liszt during his so-called “WeimarPeriod” (1848-1861). In 1849 Liszt settled at Weimar, and became director of the court theaterthere. He abandoned the career of a virtuoso to accept this position, and did so in order that hemight be in a position to promote the works of other composers. On Wednesday, February 2, 1853,Liszt completed his most ambitious (and now most often performed) work, the Sonata in B minor,dedicating it to Robert Schumann, who many years earlier had dedicated to Liszt his own finestwork for the instrument, the Fantasy in C, Opus 17. The first public performance of the Sonatatook place on January 22, 1857 in Berlin at a concert inaugurating the first Bechstein grand piano.Hans von Bülow, who gave that first performance wrote to Liszt of “an unexpected, almostunanimous success.”

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Earl Wild contemplating Liszt scores with the master looking over his shoulder, 1986

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One critic called the Sonata in B minor, “Liszt’s boldest experiment in original music for thepiano alone.” Why call it “an experiment”? Perhaps, because the piece is not, in the conventionalsense, a sonata. It is in one contiguous movement; its themes are not formally treated in the sonata-manner. It is, in effect, a symphonic tone poem, reduced in scale to the measure of the piano’sresources. Yet within its single movement one can discover the elements of the sonata. All the lead-ing characteristics of the form are fully maintained within the scope of the single movement, andas one analyst pointed out, “Liszt’s Sonata constitutes a more complete organism than can beattained by three distinct and independent movements.”

Rafael Joseffy (1852-1915), Liszt student, editor of Chopin’s works, and professor of piano atthe National Conservatory in New York, stated that the Sonata, “is one of those compositions thatplays itself, it lies so beautifully for the hand.” There is no doubt that the work is full of astonish-ing theme transformations. The drama, the panache, the sensuousness and rhetoric abound in amanner that only Liszt could “pack” into a composition. But it hardly plays itself! The Sonata is vir-tuoso music at its best – a work that requires careful study and prodigious technique.

The Sonata in B minor [Disc 2, & ] opens in a portentous atmosphere with a motifwhich is encountered later on. From the gloom springs a broad theme in octaves which is said tohave inspired Wagner’s leitmotif for Wotan. This heavy descending scale passage is followed by atruly Lisztian theme of descending and ascending octave passages leading to a third subject with adrum-like accompaniment. The work is developed from these three themes. Konrad Wolff com-pared the development and structure of the Sonata with life itself, “with all its highlights and crises,its moments of repose and detachment, its emotional and spiritual involvements, ending in deathand (during the final measures) transfiguration.” Perhaps, Liszt had in mind German philosopher,Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s generally accepted statement that the “Idea” itself creates its con-trast or, in Hegel’s words, “unfolds itself in the form of being different.” It is certainly a useful wayof examining the Sonata. There is no division into separate movements, yet the sections are clearlydefined. A grand theme of broad chorale-like character forms the Andante sostenuto. It is developed(transformed) with the three introductory motifs, leading without pause into the Allegro energicowhich builds up into a grandiose finale. For the famous critic and Liszt enthusiast, James Huneker,the Sonata was Liszt’s most interesting work for the piano. He exclaimed, “What a tremendouslydramatic work it is! It stirs the blood. It is intense. It is complex. The opening bars are trulyLisztian... Power there is, sardonic power... Is there a composer who paints the infernal, themacabre, with more suggestive realism than Liszt? The chorale, usually the meat of a Liszt compo-sition, now appears and proclaims the religious belief of the composer in dogmatic accents, and ourconvictions are swept along until after that outburst in C major... But the rustle of silken attire isin back of every bar; sensuous imagery, a faint perfume of femininity lurks in every cadence and

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trill... All this leads to aprestissimo finale of startlingsplendor. There is nothingmore exciting in the litera-ture of the piano. It is bril-liantly captivating, and Lisztthe Magnificent is stampedon every bar!”

Franz Liszt was born aRoman Catholic and all hislife maintained that he was atrue believer. In a letter writ-ten to Joseph d’Ortigue(1802-1866), a scholar spe-cializing in the history andpraxis of the Catholicchorals, Liszt wrote, “In thedepth of my being I feelmyself a Christian and I bowjoyously (avec allegresse) mysoul under the benevolentand light burden of Christ

our Savior, as I attempt in supplication to do what his church out of love demands of us – now,as we shall not part that which God has joined, so shall I never agree to sever the ties that join feel-ing with thought, the language of the time with the essence of eternity, art in its highest manifes-tation – I shall not cease to be a musician as I increasingly become a Christian. Quite the contraryI hope just through this to attain a better music-conscience and so to fulfill my artistic task withincreasing power.”

In a letter written in 1860 to Jeanne Élisabeth Carolyne (Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein), Lisztadmits that he felt a “mysterious feeling which has pierced my entire life as with a sacred wound.Yes, “Jesus Christ on the Cross,” a yearning longing after the Cross and the raising of the Cross, –this was ever my true inner calling...”

Throughout his life, Liszt’s central struggle of his being was fought on religious lines. Sincemusic was the oxygen he breathed, he expressed his deepest religious sentiments through his music.And it is his music that gives proof of the great sincerity of his religious aspirations. Liszt created an

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Earl Wild playing the rare Bechstein-Moór Duplex-Coupler Grand Piano

astonishing quantity of religious works, not only for chorus but also for the piano. His most famouspiano cycle is a set of ten pieces entitled Harmonies poétiques et religieuses. The title of the collectionwas taken from a group of Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869) poems published in 1830. Lisztbegan sketching one of the piano pieces (which eventually became the third in the set) in 1845. Therest of the pieces took form between 1847 and 1852. He published the collection in 1853.

There were good reasons why Liszt occupied himself with devotional expression. He devel-oped a deep friendship with Jeanne Élisabeth Carolyne (Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein (1819-1887))during his last year of touring in 1846. She followed Liszt from Russia to Weimar, eventually liv-ing out her final years in Rome, in extreme religious devotion, writing her 24-volume Inner Causesof the External Weakness of the Church. Liszt’s Harmonies poétiques et religieuses is dedicated to her.

Funérailles [Disc 2, ] is the seventh composition in Liszt’s cycle, and, perhaps the bestknow work in the collection. The title of the first sketch of the work (located at the Goethe andSchiller Archives in Weimar) is Magyar. The final version is dated October 1849. This is a clearreference by Liszt to the tragic events following the failure of 1848-1849 Hungarian War ofIndependence. The Austrian imperial and military courts put to death Count Lajos Batthyeány(the president of the first free Hungarian government) and sixteen officers from the leaders of theWar of Independence. At this time Liszt lost some of his best and dearest friends. The sad eventsin his homeland affected him deeply. He wrote: “I too belong to that strong and ancient race, Itoo am a son of that original and undaunted nation, which is certainly destined still for better daysto come. O my wild, distant fatherland! My friends unknown! My great, vast family! The cry ofyour heart beckons me close to you... Why does a harsh destiny keep me far away?” Swiss-Germancomposer, Joseph Joachim Raff was a member of Liszt’s Weimar circle of friends and rememberedthat “Liszt has been deeply moved by the loss of his best Hungarian friends...” For many yearsmany musicians and critics insisted that Funérailles had been occasioned by Chopin’s death (whodied eleven days after Count Lajos Batthyeány was put to death). However, musicologist LinaRamann unequivocally refuted the suggestion that this work had anything to do with Chopin’sdeath. Funérailles, in its blend of virtuosity and profundity, has few equals among Liszt’s works. Ina sense, it is a pianistic homage to heroes (or perhaps, in a larger sense, a people) who go beyondhistory, through their patriotic death, to become immortal. More powerful or heartfelt funeralmusic than this has rarely been penned.

Franz Liszt was an inveterate transcriber. Whether the melody was a simple folk song, a com-plex symphonic work, a lengthy chamber piece, an operatic aria, or a beautiful art-song, Liszt couldnot resist the urge to lovingly transform it into a piano work. More than half of his compositionsare transcriptions, paraphrases, reminiscences, or fantasies on other composers’ music. Liszt pos-sessed an amazing response to poetic imagery. He believed that purely musical images of poetic

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ideas are capable of being projected tothe listener and that he could illustratesuch imagery without words. This washis lifelong aesthetic. Liszt transcribedabout 150 songs. In addition, he tran-scribed for piano the complete sym-phonies of Beethoven, numerous worksby Berlioz, Wagner, Rossini, Weber, andothers. Virtually every musical work wasgrist for Liszt’s transcription mill. Lisztset an incredibly high standard for the artof transcription, and it is this standardthat was the influencing factor andguideline for virtuoso pianists who wereto follow.

“The lied is, poetically as well asmusically, an intrinsic product of theGermanic Muse,” wrote Liszt in an essayon Robert Franz. Liszt’s own song set-tings prove his own hypothesis – thereare 57 settings of German texts, 11French songs, 5 Italian, 3 Hungarian,one English and one Russian. DieLoreley (S532/R209) [Disc 2, ] wasoriginally cast in November 1841 byLiszt as a song to a text by Heinrich Heine(1797-1856). It is a passionate rhap-sody/ballad, reminiscences of Rhinelandvisits strengthened by personal experience,beginning with the lines:

I know not what it meansThat I should be so sad;A legend of long agoGives me no peace of mind.

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Back: Lord Londonderry, Earl Wild, Michael Rolland DavisFront: Reginald Londonderry, Frederick K. Londonderry and Hasta at Wynyard, 1986 (Photo by Richard Pare)

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The piano transcription by Liszt of this song was published in 1861 and another version forvoices and orchestra was published in 1863.

Fryderyk Chopin’s Polish Melodies, Opus 74, are without a doubt the least known of thecomposer’s works. Composed between 1828 and 1845 and collected posthumously, they are com-positions of a lifetime – the product of continuing inspiration, and the reflection of Chopin’s verysoul. Liszt first met Chopin in 1831, immediately after Chopin’s arrival in Paris. Their associationwas unlucky at best, and often flawed by misunderstandings and little warmth. It was Liszt whointroduced George Sand to Chopin, resulting in a questionable and difficult relationship. WhenChopin lent Liszt his apartment, Liszt used it for an assignation. This is something that Chopindiscovered later and of which he did not approve. After Chopin’s death, Liszt showed abominabletaste in publishing a terrible book on Chopin. The small volume was turgid at best, full of uselessdigressions and misinformation. Today most musicologists agree that the book was the handiworkof Liszt’s mistress, Carolyne Wittgenstein. Be that as it may, among Liszt’s song transcriptions aresix by Chopin. They are some of Liszt’s most popular and endearing transcriptions. The transcrip-tions were created by Liszt during a period of thirteen years, from 1847 to 1860 and dedicated tothe Princess Marie von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst [also known as Princess Marie von Sayn-Wittgenstein, daughter of Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein]. The fifth song transcription,Moja pieszczotka (“Meine Freuden,” “My Joys”) [Disc 2, ] is a sheer lyrical outpouring of vir-ile expressions of love: not only is she the most beautiful, but a look from her is enough to set oneaflame. The lover cannot resist the pleasure of taking her in his arms and wildly kissing her... to amazurka rhythm.

Liszt’s favorite works of literature, he let it be known, were Goethe’s Faust and Dante’s TheDivine Comedy. It is therefore not surprising that Liszt had a preoccupation with the diabolical. Inaddition to his Totentanz, his Faust Symphony, his transcription for piano of Berlioz’s Symphonie fan-tastique, Liszt composed quite a few piano pieces with the devil as a focus. The best known of theseare the five Mephisto Waltzes (the fifth is actually entitled Bagatelle sans tonalité) and the MephistoPolka (S217/R39) [Disc 2, ]. Composed in 1883, the Mephisto Polka enters strange tonalregions. Highly austere, its chromaticisms at times border on the polytonal. This work is not a pic-ture of a bedeviled young composer dancing to the macabre strains of ghostly music, but rather anold composer being wry, sarcastic, full of irony and devilish.

The six short pieces which Liszt published in 1850 under the title Consolations had a literaryinspiration. According to scholars, Liszt was familiar with the volume of poetry entitledConsolations by historian and poet Joseph Delorme (pseudonym for Charles Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869)), which Liszt read shortly after its publication in 1830. Although Liszt began the set in thefirst half of the 1840s, it was not until the first half of 1849 that the ideas had been worked out. In

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Earl Wild performing Liszt concert at Londonderry Estate, 1986

these pieces, Liszt achieved a precious cultivated elegance, choosing to write music simply to servethe melodic material. The six pieces were conceived as a unit (in fact, some to be played attacca) assuggested by the sequence of keys. The Consolation No.3 in D-flat [Disc 2, ] has long enjoyedgreat popularity as a piece on its own.

– Notes by Marina and Victor Ledin, ©2001

� EARL WILD �

“When Earl Wild performs, the Golden Age of the keyboard suddenly reappears.”TIME Magazine

Earl Wild is a pianist in the grand Romantic tradition. His legendary career, so distinguishedand long, has continued for well over 70 years. Born in 1915, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, EarlWild’s technical accomplishments are often likened to what those of Liszt himself must have had.Born with absolute pitch he started playing the piano at three. Having studied with great pianistssuch as Egon Petri, his lineage can be traced back to Scharwenka, Busoni, Ravel, d’Albert and Liszthimself.

Earl Wild’s career is dotted with musical legends. As a young pianist he was soloist with ArturoToscanini and the NBC Symphony. Since then he has performed with virtually every major con-ductor and symphony orchestra in the world. Rachmaninov was an important idol in his life. It’sbeen said of Earl Wild, “He’s the incarnation of Rachmaninov, Lhevinne and Rosenthal rolled intoone!” In 1986 after hearing him play three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts, devoted to Liszt, hon-oring the centenary of that composer’s death, one critic said, “I find it impossible to believe that heplayed those millions of notes with 70-year-old fingers, so fresh-sounding and precise were they.Perhaps he has a worn-out set up in his attic, a la Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray.”

He’s one of the few American pianists to have achieved international as well as domestic celebri-ty. He has performed for six Presidents of the United States, beginning with Herbert Hoover, andin 1939, was the first classical pianist to give a recital on the new medium of Television. At four-teen he was performing in the Pittsburgh Symphony with Otto Klemperer as well as working atradio station KDKA, where he played many of his own compositions. As a virtuoso pianist, com-poser, transcriber, conductor, editor and teacher, Mr. Wild continues in the style of the legendarygreat artists of the past.

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In addition to his distinguished concert career, which encompasses performances with con-ductors such as Stokowski, Reiner, Maazel, Solti and Mitropoulos, and artists like Callas, Tourel,Pons, Melchior, Peerce and Bumbry, Wild successfully shines as both a conductor and composer.His Easter oratorio, Revelations, was broadcast by the ABC network in 1962 and again in 1964.Wild’s recent composition, Variations on a Theme of Stephen Foster for piano and orchestra(“Doo-Dah” Variations), premiered with Wild as soloist with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestrain 1992.

In 1986 Mr. Wild was awarded the Liszt Medal by the People’s Republic of Hungary inrecognition of his long and devoted association with the music of Franz Liszt. Also in 1986, a TVdocumentary entitled Wild about Liszt, filmed at Wynyard, the Marquess of Londonderry’s familyestate, received the British Petroleum Award for best musical documentary.

Liszt is a composer who has been closely associated with Mr. Wild throughout his long career.He has been performing all Liszt recitals for over forty years. In New York City in 1961, he gave amonumental all Liszt recital celebrating the 150th anniversary of Liszt’s birth. In 1986, honoringthe 100th year of Liszt’s death, he gave a series of three recitals entitled “Liszt the Poet,” “Liszt theTranscriber,” and “Liszt the Virtuoso,” in New York’s Carnegie Hall and other recital halls of theworld. Championing composers such as Liszt long before they were fashionable, is part of the foun-dation on which Mr. Wild has built his long and successful career.

Mr. Wild is one of today’s most recorded pianists, having made his first disc in 1938 for RCA.Since 1938, he has recorded with 21 different record labels, resulting in a discography that includesmore than 33 piano concertos, 14 chamber works, and 600 solo piano pieces.

Today at 85, Mr. Wild continues to record and perform concerts throughout the world. He hasbeen called “the finest transcriber of our time,” and his many piano transcriptions are widely knownand respected. In 1997, he won a Grammy® Award for his disc, “The Romantic Master” –Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions. Praised by critics and music lovers around the world as a“stunning document of musical sensitivity and virtuosity” and “a tribute to America’s greatestpianistic treasure” – this CD is once again available in its original HDCD state-of-the-art audio-phile sound on Ivory Classics® [70907].

Along with the release of over 20 other CDs in the last 10 years, when he was 79, Earl Wildrecorded a well received Beethoven disc which included the monumental Hammerklavier Sonata,as well as another disc composed of Rachmaninov’s Preludes and the Second Piano Sonata. EarlWild is an exclusive Ivory Classics® artist. In celebration of his 85th birthday, Ivory Classics®

released 20th and 21st Century Piano Sonatas [71005], which includes Mr. Wild’s own PianoSonata (2000).

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To place an order or to be included on mailing list:Ivory Classics™ • P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068

Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: http://www.IvoryClassics.com

� CREDITS �

Recorded:December 1985 in New York City (DDD).

Original Producer and Remastering Producer:Michael Rolland Davis

Remastering Engineer:Ed Thompson

Liner Notes:Marina and Victor Ledin

Design:Communication Graphics

Cover Photograph:Earl Wild in 1986 by Malcolm Crowthers

taken at “Wynyard,” Lord Londonderry’s family home.

Inside Tray Photo:Reception at “Wynyard” following Liszt Recital by Earl Wild

on the 100th anniversary of Liszt’s death (July 31, 1986).

®

Dante Sonata 15:58

Sonetto del Petrarca No.47 6:20

Sonetto del Petrarca No.104 6:31

Sonetto del Petrarca No.123 7:04

Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este 7:41

Ballade No.2 in B minor 13:59

Liebesträume No.2 in E flat Major 4:27

Liebesträume No.3 in A flat Major 4:26

Un Sospiro 5:14

Total Playing Time: 72:16

- Bach/Liszt: Fantasia and

Fugue in G minor 11:12

- Sonata in B minor 28:27

Die Loreley 6:31

Funérailles 12:29

Chopin/Liszt: My Joys 4:21

Mephisto Polka 4:03

Consolation No.3 in D flat Major 4:32

Total Playing Time: 72:03

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2001 Ivory Classics® • All Rights Reserved.Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 341068

Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. Phone: 888-40-IVORY or 614-761-8709 • Fax: 614-761-9799e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com

64405-72001 STEREO

EARL WILD LISZTEARL WILD LISZTEARL WILD LISZT

Original and Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

Remastering Engineer: Ed Thompson

T H E 1 9 8 5 S E S S I O N S

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