Composer: Ferencz Liszt
Performer: Jorge Bolet
Orchestra: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lawrence Foster, Edo de Waart
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Audite
Release: 2018
Size: 769 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124
01. Allegro maestoso
02. Quasi adagio
03. Allegretto vivace – Allegro animato
04. Allegro marziale animato – Presto
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125
05. Adagio sostenuto assai
06. Allegro agitato assai
07. Allegro moderato
08. Allegro deciso
09. Marziale un poco meno allegro
10. Allegro animato – Stretto (molto accelerando)
Années de pèlerinage, 2ème année, Italie (7 pieces), S. 161
11. No. 4, Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Sonnet 47 of Petrarch)
12. No. 5, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Sonnet 104 of Petrarch)
13. No. 6, Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Sonnet 123 of Petrarch)
14. Ouvertüre zu R Wagners Tannhäuser S442
Volume 2 of the RIAS Jorge Bolet recordings is dedicated to Franz Liszt, whose works helped launch the Cuban-born pianist’s career; it was also his Liszt performances that shaped Bolet’s later path. JorgeBolet shot to fame with the soundtrack of the Hollywood adaptation of the Liszt biography Song Without End. The RIAS recordings also show Bolet to be a Liszt authority. The piano concertos, conducted by LawrenceFoster and Edo de Waart, are concert recordings: the solo pieces were recorded in the studio. The concert paraphrase of the overture to Wagner’s Tannhäuser, whose challenges are feared by most pianists, was one of Bolet’s “war horses”: few other twentieth century pianists would have come close to the technical and interpretational perfection with which he performed the work. The recording of the three Petrarch sonnets from the second volume of Liszt’s Années de Pèlerinage reveal Bolet to be a master of beautiful sound production and legato playing.
Bolet demonstrates an unerringly clear and perfectly shaped pianism, as well as his understanding of virtuosity: it is never employed for its own sake, but always to illustrate the musical context. In contrast to the recordings in our first boxed set (AUDITE21438), all recordings presented here are in stereo.