Liszt’s thirteen symphonic poems are among his best-known and most characteristic works, giving a graphic impression of the sheer versatility and manysidedness of his personality, as well as his astonishing creative range. But though he made many piano transcriptions, he never transcribed his symphonic poems for solo piano.
The Bohemian pianist, composer and writer, August Stradal (1860–1930) was considered a leading interpreter of Liszt’s music and made many transcriptions of orchestral and chamber works for the piano, from the Baroque era to the late nineteenth century.
Stradal’s transcriptions of Liszt’s symphonic poems transform these revolutionary orchestral compositions into viable and effective piano works, faithfully preserving their masterly musical substance.
In his transcriptions Stradal scrupulously indicates the instruments playing in the orchestral score at any given time, and devises many ingenious solutions to representing their sound in terms of the keyboard.
This is the first of four CDs presenting all thirteen symphonic poems as well as other Stradal Liszt transcriptions, all but one in their first recordings.
