New Live Release

cover courtesy of Decca

Lots to like from Valentina Lisitsa - her debut on Decca is a live concert from Royal Albert Hall. “Of course it’s a concert” she says, “but it’s also a celebration.”
She will perform in the US this winter and next spring - if you get a chance, see her in concert, but we can't recommend enough to check out her new cd and dvd. Fans of Russian repertoire will melt at the Rachmaninoff, and be stunned at her Scriabin. Chopin and Liszt devotees have floating, touching, and incredibly moving performances of Nocturnes and Etudes. Most impressive and powerful is Lisitsa's Beethoven. Here she is most expressive, spinning the Moonlight Sonata with grace, and at times, perfect momentum.

Bonus for the DVD includes Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and Valentina speaking, items you really should consider! It will be available August 7th.

-Host John Clare

Hyphenated Names

There was a time with piano recital programs had many hyphenated names, like Wagner-Tausig, Beethoven-Liszt and Bach-Busoni. Even though we modern media types are used to hearing baroque music, even on ancient instruments, that wasn't the case in the late 19th century. Great musicians knew of Bach and his contributions, but how to share this music with an audience? The few harpsichords that survived were dilapidated antiques and the piano was considered better in every way so play baroque keyboard music on that. But, what about Bach's great organ works? There was no shortage of organists, but pianists wanted in on the act. It was Franz Liszt, the great transcriber that started the ball rolling by playing Bach's organ music in his concerts.

Later after an organ recital that the mother of one of Ferruccio Busoni's students suggested to the great pianist that he transcribe one of the works enjoyed during the concert for piano. Little did she know what she was starting. Now a days it is Busoni's transcriptions of Bach that are his most performed works.

The piano is the great imitator and can clip away harpsichord-like or fill a hall with its powerful bass like an organ, no wonder it is considered the universal instrument. On the Piano this Sunday Russian pianist Nikolai Demidenko plays the music of Bach through the transcriptions of Busoni and Liszt.

The Piano is heard Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC and KTXI.

host Randy Anderson

Ferocious Romanticism

Ferocious Romanticism

One of the hallmarks of hyper-romanticism is Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The number of musicians it inspired, puzzled or horrified is legion. After hearing it, the violinist, Nicolo Paganini (below left) was moved to commission Berlioz (center) to write a viola concerto for him. And Franz Liszt, the Paganini of the piano, (below right) became Berlioz's life long friend and champion. In these times of instant and perfect digital reproduction the notion of not being able to get what you want is troubling, but that was the problem in the nineteenth century. The score of the Symphonie Fantastique was not published for 15 years after it premiere. To help his friend and to further explore his own growing virtuosity, Liszt painstakingly transcribed the work achieving an accurate depiction of this orchestral showpiece for the piano.

There aren't many recordings of the Berlioz/Liszt Symphonie Fantastique, but someone who did it twice and with great passion and technique is the Turkish pianist Idil Biret. You can hear her knuckle-busting performance of this seminal masterpiece this Sunday afternoon on the Piano, heard on KPAC and KTXI at 5 pm.

Randy Anderson, host