Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S178, etc.

…Lewis makes the most of the bleak contours and cryptic ideas characterising Liszt's late pieces. — BBC Music Magazine, November 2004, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 13th Sep 2004
Catalogue No: HMC901845
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 59 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

October 2004

Editor's Choice

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Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S178

Work length30:19

$5.35

$6.50

Paul Lewis

I. Lento assai

Track length12:04

$2.15

$2.60

II. Andante sostenuto

Track length7:22

$1.60

$1.95

III. Allegro energico

Track length10:53

$1.60

$1.95

Liszt: Trübe Wolken / Nuages gris, S. 199

Work length2:34

$1.05

$1.30

Paul Lewis

Liszt: Venezia, S. 201

Work length2:47

$1.05

$1.30

Paul Lewis

Liszt: Unstern: sinistre disastro S208

Work length4:12

$1.05

$1.30

Paul Lewis

Liszt: Quatre petites pièces pour piano, S. 192

Work length7:19

$4.20

$5.20

Paul Lewis

I. Adagio

Track length2:19

$1.05

$1.30

II. Moderato

Track length1:53

$1.05

$1.30

III. Adagio

Track length1:35

$1.05

$1.30

IV. Andantino

Track length1:32

$1.05

$1.30

Liszt: En rêve - Nocturne S207

Work length2:34

$1.05

$1.30

Paul Lewis

Liszt: Schlaflos Frage und Antwort, S203

Work length2:49

$1.05

$1.30

Paul Lewis

Liszt: La lugubre gondola, S. 200 / 2

Work length7:19

$1.60

$1.95

Paul Lewis

Reviews
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Reviews

November 2004

…Lewis makes the most of the bleak contours and cryptic ideas characterising Liszt's late pieces.

2010

Once considered musically incomprehensible and technically unplayable, the Liszt Sonata is now part of the repertoire of virtually every pianist of note. Yet even in a crowded marketplace (where Horowitz, Gilels, Richter, Argerich, Brendel, Pollini and others jostle for attention) Paul Lewis's recording stands out for its breadth, mastery and shining musicianship.
Eschewing all obvious display, he concentrates on the Sonata's monumental weight, grandeur and ever-elusive inner poetry. His sense of drama is dark and intense, and his reading of the central Andante sostenuto alone puts his performance in the highest league. Lewis's octaves in the final Prestissimo blaze before the retrospective coda are of a pulverising strength; with him the Sonata regains its stature among music's most formidable milestones.
Moving to the music of Liszt's final years, Lewis ranges from Nuages gris, much admired by Stravinsky, its language anticipating Debussy, Bartók and even Schoenberg, to Unstern (literally, and in Shakespearean terms, 'unstarred'), music of a sinister violence. If there's solace in the relatively benign world of the four LittlePieces and En rêve it's quickly shattered by Lalugubre gondole II, a desolate elegy anticipating Wagner's funeral.
This isn't music for late-night listening, more an invitation to 'sleepless question and answer'.
But these pieces are played with a rapt and haunting sense of their attenuated beauty, making this one of the finest, most intelligently planned Liszt recitals for many years. Harmonia Mundi's sound is of demonstration quality.

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