# Best version of Liszt Sonata



## DavidA

Just heard Stephen Hough playing Liszt's piano sonata on the television. Not much impressed myself.
Who does everyone else think are the great interpreters of this sonata?


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## tovaris

Jorge Bolet, Gyorgy Cziffra


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## Guest

I was quite happy with Marc-Andre Hamelin's recording.


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## KenOC

Martha Argerich from 1971 is excellent. This YT video will give some idea, although the sound is not very good.


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## kv466

For me it is without question, Earl Wild.


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## moody

Among those that could be classed as great are Jorge Bolet's Everest recording,Horowitz from the early 1930s and Shura Cherkassky's version.


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## TrevBus

While Liszt has never been a favorite, I do enjoy most of his vast piano music. The sonata is, however, not that high for me. I do give another vote for Bolet. Until Leslie Howard came along, I didn't feel anyone other than Bolet really understood his piano music.
As a side note: I have a Naxos recording of this w/Jeno Jando. While not a HIGH recommendation from me, I found this rather good.


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## kv466

I just heard the Hamelin live recording and was very impressed! Thanks, Doc. In addition to the fine playing, I very much liked the tone of the piano in the recording. I went back and listened to Earl Wild's on cd and I don't love sound for the Liszt but the playing is fabulous. Now I found one he recorded in the 40's with a completely different sounding piano. This is a piece I haven't compared much but I see myself doing that over the next few days. I'm still with Earl but Marc did a fantastic job.


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## Forte

I like the classic Vladimir Horowitz version of the sonata. I haven't heard too many different versions of it though. That being said, the best version was probably Liszt's.


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## Vaneyes

*Nikolai Demidenko :tiphat:*
View attachment 22394


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## moody

TrevBus said:


> While Liszt has never been a favorite, I do enjoy most of his vast piano music. The sonata is, however, not that high for me. I do give another vote for Bolet. Until Leslie Howard came along, I didn't feel anyone other than Bolet really understood his piano music.
> As a side note: I have a Naxos recording of this w/Jeno Jando. While not a HIGH recommendation from me, I found this rather good.


This is a surprising post.
I'm sure there were many pianists who understand Liszt very well indeed.
Apart from my choice above we have the following: Edith Farnadi (maybe the greatest Lisztian), Claudio Arrau, idil Biret, Eugen List, Leonard Pennario and Egon Petri (a giant) and Earl Wild. 
I don't have them doing the sonata.
Three more who have recorded it and are among the greats are Gina Bachauer, Simon Barere (live) and Alfred Cortot (1929 recording),that was a surprise but he really goes for it and it's a great performance.


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## Guest

kv466 said:


> I just heard the Hamelin live recording and was very impressed! Thanks, Doc. In addition to the fine playing, I very much liked the tone of the piano in the recording. I went back and listened to Earl Wild's on cd and I don't love sound for the Liszt but the playing is fabulous. Now I found one he recorded in the 40's with a completely different sounding piano. This is a piece I haven't compared much but I see myself doing that over the next few days. I'm still with Earl but Marc did a fantastic job.


Hamelin, in my opinion, is one of the great pianists alive today. His technical skill is amazing, and yet he also still brings emotion. His Alkan recordings are among my favorite solo piano works. And it isn't just the romantic repertoire where he excels - his Haydn sonata recordings are amazing as well. I have 2 of the 3 volumes.


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## Mandryka

Horowitz (1930s), Cortot, Cor de Groot, Arrau, Richter (1980s), Gilels, Cherkassky, Valentin Giorgu, Sofronitsky (second recording), Schliessmann.


Who are the great performers of the Dante sonata? That one has done less well in record.


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## moody

Mandryka said:


> Cortot, Cor de Groot, Arrau, Richter, Gilels, Cherkassky, Valentin Giorgu, Sofronitsky, Schliessmann


Cor de Groot was wonderful,he seems to be forgotten ---but not by me.


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## Mandryka

Mandryka said:


> Horowitz (1930s), Cortot, Cor de Groot, Arrau, Richter (1980s), Gilels, Cherkassky, Valentin Giorgu, Sofronitsky (second recording), Schliessmann.
> 
> Who are the great performers of the Dante sonata? That one has done less well in record.


Three I forgot. Pletnev (first recording), Deszo Ranki (there's a live version which is especially fine), Annie Fischer.

There's quite a lot of Cor de Groot on spotify and on youtube now.


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## Lisztian

Mandryka said:


> Who are the great performers of the Dante sonata? That one has done less well in record.


The _only_ performance of the Dante Sonata is this one by Arrau. One of the very few performers who I feel did justice to it, making it sound like a worthy companion to the B Minor.


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## DavidA

Lisztian said:


> The _only_ performance of the Dante Sonata is this one by Arrau. One of the very few performers who I feel did justice to it, making it sound like a worthy companion to the B Minor.


But have heard Cziffra in the work?


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## DavidA

The B minor sonata is a fantastic work. Ultimately ground breaking.
Among the versions I have

Cherkassky
Richter x2
Rubinstein - if you just think of him as a Chopin player, hear this!
Cziffra
Anda
Argerich - phenomenal!
Ogden
Horowitz from 1930s when he was at his considerable best!

These are all really good with something special to enjoy. This is a work where there is always something fresh to say about it.


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## Lisztian

DavidA said:


> But have heard Cziffra in the work?


I have, and he's one of my very favourites. Cziffra is another who I feel does justice to it. Also, for kv466 who liked my post, Earl Wild is also one of my very favourites...as he is with almost any Liszt he plays.


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## Ukko

Liszt was Cziffra's composer-hero, and he had the chops to do his music justice.


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## Mandryka

In the Dante sonata I like Arrau, but I like Sofronitsky even more I think, despite terrible sound.

Another amazing B minor sonata recording I forgot is Levy's. 

Towards the end of the final section of the B minor sonata there is a sequence of nine (I think) chords played rather quietly -- I think this is one of the most beautiful moments in music. The sonata also has a really exciting fugue, a huge intense ecstatic central passage. And the opening is indescribably creepy.


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## TrevBus

moody said:


> This is a surprising post.
> I'm sure there were many pianists who understand Liszt very well indeed.
> Apart from my choice above we have the following: Edith Farnadi (maybe the greatest Lisztian), Claudio Arrau, idil Biret, Eugen List, Leonard Pennario and Egon Petri (a giant) and Earl Wild.
> I don't have them doing the sonata.
> Three more who have recorded it and are among the greats are Gina Bachauer, Simon Barere (live) and Alfred Cortot (1929 recording),that was a surprise but he really goes for it and it's a great performance.


You are probably right. As I said, not into liszt that much, so there is that.


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## PetrB

moody said:


> Among those that could be classed as great are Jorge Bolet's Everest recording,Horowitz from the early 1930s and Shura Cherkassky's version.


What you should be looking for is a performance by a pianist with a deserved repute for playing in, piano geek stuff here -- "The Grand Style." This mid to late romantic school requires not only the full arsenal of virtuosic techniques, but also a keen musical intelligence which knows the full score, and can in performance elucidate all aspects of its architecture, no mean feat when playing a thirty plus minute work constructed on a very large scale. (Cherkassky was one of those pianists.)

Later proponents, some say the last, were Richter and Gilels, I believe Horowitz never quite having "made that grade."

Without that intelligence about the work's architecture, and the ability to convey it, sustaining the overall so the listener is left with a feeling of one edifice, a work such as the extensive Liszt B minor sonata would be nothing but a chain of episodes, making little or no sense.

Brendel, now retired, was not only a classical "specialist" but a Liszt specialist. I would take a guess that Roger Muraro, known for both Messiaen and Liszt, may have recorded it, and that would be of more than a little interest.

Grand Style, though, or it is just a bunch of notes in sequence.


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## annie

Zimerman, Rubinstein & Gilels


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## DavidA

PetrB said:


> What you should be looking for is a performance by a pianist with a deserved repute for playing in, piano geek stuff here -- "The Grand Style." This mid to late romantic school requires not only the full arsenal of virtuosic techniques, but also a keen musical intelligence which knows the full score, and can in performance elucidate all aspects of its architecture, no mean feat when playing a thirty plus minute work constructed on a very large scale. (Cherkassky was one of those pianists.)
> 
> Later proponents, some say the last, were Richter and Gilels, I believe Horowitz never quite having "made that grade."
> 
> Without that intelligence about the work's architecture, and the ability to convey it, sustaining the overall so the listener is left with a feeling of one edifice, a work such as the extensive Liszt B minor sonata would be nothing but a chain of episodes, making little or no sense.
> 
> Brendel, now retired, was not only a classical "specialist" but a Liszt specialist. I would take a guess that Roger Muraro, known for both Messiaen and Liszt, may have recorded it, and that would be of more than a little interest.
> 
> Grand Style, though, or it is just a bunch of notes in sequence.


I am an admirer of Brendel and indeed learned the Liszt sonata (only to listen to!) from his earlier recording, but I would not say he had quite the colossal technique required for Liszt. He was unfailingly intelligent but somehow his Liszt never quite reached the colossal peaks of virtuosity. I don't think you could class him as a grand style pianist.
I cannot agree that Horowitz never 'made the grade'. When you hear his earlier Liszt you hear an example of that tradition. 
Haven't heard Wild in the sonata. Something I must rectify.


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## joen_cph

moody said:


> This is a surprising post.
> I'm sure there were many pianists who understand Liszt very well indeed.
> Apart from my choice above we have the following: Edith Farnadi (maybe the greatest Lisztian), Claudio Arrau, idil Biret, Eugen List, Leonard Pennario and Egon Petri (a giant) and Earl Wild.
> I don't have them doing the sonata.
> Three more who have recorded it and are among the greats are Gina Bachauer, Simon Barere (live) and Alfred Cortot (1929 recording),that was a surprise but he really goes for it and it's a great performance.


Didn´t know about a Petri recording, and haven´t hard the Wild mentioned by you and Kv466, will check it out.

It´s such a great and many-facetted piece that many pianists have contributed with interesting versions. I prefer the already listed Horowitz 1932 and also like his 1977, Gilels on Brilliant Classics, Bolet/Everest and Barrere.

Also, the less temperamental but fine version by Pascal Devoyon, coupled with only fine works - the Dante Sonata & Lugubre Gondola 1-2.

Also own Cliburn, Argerich/DG, Brendel 1+2, Alexeev, Richter/Melodiya & Brilliant Classics, Berman, and Anda.

EDIT: and Levy, cf. above.


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## moody

joen_cph said:


> Didn´t know about a Petri recording, and haven´t hard the Wild mentioned by you and Kv466, will check it out.
> 
> It´s such a great and many-facetted piece that many pianists have contributed with interesting versions. I prefer the already listed Horowitz 1932 and also like his 1977, Gilels on Brilliant Classics, Bolet/Everest and Barrere.
> 
> Also, the less temperamental but fine version by Pascal Devoyon, coupled with only fine works - the Dante Sonata & Lugubre Gondola 1-2.
> 
> Also own Cliburn, Argerich/DG, Brendel 1+2, Alexeev, Richter/Melodiya & Brilliant Classics, Berman, and Anda.


I think you misread my post,I mentioned pianists who "understood" Liszt. I can find no sign of a Petri/Liszt version of the B Minor Sonata ,though I expect he used to play it for sure.
But I have now found that I do have both Gilels (RCA) and Wild and very good they are.


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## moody

Mandryka said:


> Horowitz (1930s), Cortot, Cor de Groot, Arrau, Richter (1980s), Gilels, Cherkassky, Valentin Giorgu, Sofronitsky (second recording), Schliessmann.
> 
> Who are the great performers of the Dante sonata? That one has done less well in record.


But it has because it is in fact part of the Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year ,Italy.Apres une lecture de Dante ( Fantasia Quasi Sonata ). I have got this played by Edith Farnadi who was awarded the Franz Liszt Prize twice.


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## moody

DavidA said:


> I am an admirer of Brendel and indeed learned the Liszt sonata (only to listen to!) from his earlier recording, but I would not say he had quite the colossal technique required for Liszt. He was unfailingly intelligent but somehow his Liszt never quite reached the colossal peaks of virtuosity. I don't think you could class him as a grand style pianist.
> I cannot agree that Horowitz never 'made the grade'. When you hear his earlier Liszt you hear an example of that tradition.
> Haven't heard Wild in the sonata. Something I must rectify.


You are absolutely right about Horowitz,that performace was one of the first recordings chosen for EMI's "Great Recordings 
Of The Century" when they originally came out in their heavy blue packaging---the present issues masquerading under that heading are not so important in any way.


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## joen_cph

Funny about the _Dante Sonata_, never heard a version I was totally satisfied with, though Devoyon, being the first, has always been among my preferred ones. Especially because of the tempi, though it must be admitted that in some of the more complicated passages, he could have added more nuances and details.

Nyiregyhazi is quite parodical in that case 




Concerning the 1993 Pogorelich of the "regular" Sonata, it is one of the strangest and most long-drawn in existence, but I have only felt able to hear its mournings through once: http://www.youtube.com/results?sear...0.cstaryt..0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.QlVHQt5qW1I
There´s also a Pogorelich 2012 on you-t which I haven´t heard:


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## tdc

I'm no Liszt expert, but I am a fan of this pianist, I'm curious as to what folks at TC think of this interpretation.


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## Pantheon

I enjoy Argerich's and a relatively new Hungarian pianist's, Gabor Farkas.


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## DavidA

Pantheon said:


> I enjoy Argerich's and a relatively new Hungarian pianist's, Gabor Farkas.


Argerich is simply phenomenal in this work. The virtuosity is jaw-dropping, with octaves full off as though they were single notes. I'm sure Liszt himself would have been impressed.


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## tdc

tdc said:


> I'm no Liszt expert, but I am a fan of this pianist, I'm curious as to what folks at TC think of this interpretation.


I've been listening to some different versions of the Liszt Sonata today mentioned in this thread, and much as I like Laplante, I've realized that I don't think this interpretation quite stacks up to Argerich or Earl Wild.


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## DavidA

tdc said:


> I've been listening to some different versions of the Liszt Sonata today mentioned in this thread, and much as I like Laplante, I've realized that I don't think this interpretation quite stacks up to Argerich or Earl Wild.


Not many do! Other I have yet to hear wild


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## joen_cph

moody said:


> But it has because it is in fact part of the Years of Pilgrimage, Second Year ,Italy.Apres une lecture de Dante ( Fantasia Quasi Sonata ). I have got this played by Edith Farnadi who was awarded the Franz Liszt Prize twice.


I´ve got *Farnadi* in the Hungarian Rhapsodies, Totentanz & the Wanderer & Hungarian Fantasies with Boult, & the Annees I-III, which I am giving a listen these days, when I have the time. Some of it very nice, some of it less to my taste. She recorded the Liszt Concerti 1+2 twice it seems, where I have heard the Boult, but there´s also a version with Scherchen conducting. If anyone has heard the Scherchen, I´d be interested - whether it is an eccentric or a relatively conventional performance (like the one with Boult)...

There´s a Farnadi version of the Sonata on you-t, which I´ll dig into a bit later 



The opening certainly has bite :lol:.


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## Ukko

Thanks for the link, Joen. That's my Liszt Sonata listen for 2013. Excellent performance.


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## moody

I heard the B Minor Sonata live in the car today,the pianist was Boris Giltberg who seemed very good.


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## Janspe

I've listened to so many interpretations of this sonata that it's really hard to choose. I usually find something interesting in each individual performance. But I recently discovered a recording by a pianist named André Laplante (an otherwise unknown name to me) on Spotify and enjoyed it very much, and I could say that it is, at the moment, my favourite recording of the piece. Warmly recommended!

edit: And of course right after posting this message I noticed that Mr. Laplante had already been mentioned on a previous post. Oh well...


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## ShropshireMoose

I've always enjoyed the Horowitz's playing of the Sonata, both 1932 and 1977 versions. Cherkassky played it superbly too, I heard him play it in Lichfield Cathedral in 1995, only months before he died and it was stunning. Another pianist who to my surprise, nobody appears to have mentioned here, was Louis Kentner, who gave a wonderful performance of it at his 80th birthday recital in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in 1985. A recording exists of him playing it for the Liszt Society in London in 1986. Kentner also played the Dante Sonata superlatively well- recording it for HMV in the 60s, as well as with orchestra in Constant Lambert's arrangement in the 40s. Arrau in both works is very convincing esp. his 1982 Salzburg Festival recital on Orfeo. I will endeavour to hear Edith Farnadi, having recently bought her Lp of the Dvorak Piano Quintet, and enjoyed it very much- as I do her record of the Legendes/Liebestraume and Ballades.


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## moody

ShropshireMoose said:


> I've always enjoyed the Horowitz's playing of the Sonata, both 1932 and 1977 versions. Cherkassky played it superbly too, I heard him play it in Lichfield Cathedral in 1995, only months before he died and it was stunning. Another pianist who to my surprise, nobody appears to have mentioned here, was Louis Kentner, who gave a wonderful performance of it at his 80th birthday recital in the Queen Elisabeth Hall in 1985. A recording exists of him playing it for the Liszt Society in London in 1986. Kentner also played the Dante Sonata superlatively well- recording it for HMV in the 60s, as well as with orchestra in Constant Lambert's arrangement in the 40s. Arrau in both works is very convincing esp. his 1982 Salzburg Festival recital on Orfeo. I will endeavour to hear Edith Farnadi, having recently bought her Lp of the Dvorak Piano Quintet, and enjoyed it very much- as I do her record of the Legendes/Liebestraume and Ballades.


The 1932 Horowitz is the one to go for.
Cherkassky certainly, he was wonderful in everything he did I went to every concert of his that I could manage.
When I was a small boy many moons ago Louis Kentner was known as The Liszt Man.He kept the Liszt flag flying on British Columbia black label 78s for years and first got me going on that composer. although I am surprised that he could manage the sonata when he was 80.
I haven't got the Farnadi but have a lot of her recordings and she was brilliant,won the Liszt prize twice.
I think the Westminster catalogue is in the hands of the Phillistine now--so who knows ?


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## Guest

I don't know if they are the _best_, whatever that actually means, but I like Lazar Berman's old CBS version and Denis Matsuev's new live version on RCA (His Carnegie Hall recital).


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## JCarmel

I listened to Berman on youtube the other day in this performance






before then listening to Geza Anda. I enjoyed both but I'm happy with the recordings that I have on cd...comprising those from Curzon, Bolet & Richter.


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## GioCar

I have just listened to Daniil Trifonov, his Carnegie Hall recital (Feb. 2013).
Wow, he is only 22!
I still prefer the Brendel version, but don't miss this opportunity if you can.

It's a new recording by DG, I found it streamed on Qobuz, but I believe it won't be difficult to find it elsewhere.


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