Liszt: Athanor: Totentanz, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

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Although she is amply equipped with the requisite virtuosity, Berrut distinguishes herself as a musician with bold ideas of considerable originality and possessing the courage of her convictions.... — Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2018 More…

Release Date: 15th Jun 2018
Catalogue No: AP180
Label: Aparté
Length: 55 minutes

Liszt: Totentanz – Paraphrase über "Dies irae", S126ii

Work length15:52

$1.60

$2.00

$2.35

Beatrice Berrut (soloist)
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Julien Masmondet

Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124

Work length18:41

$4.00

$5.00

$5.80

Beatrice Berrut (soloist)
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Julien Masmondet

I. Allegro maestoso

Track length5:34

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

II. Quasi adagio

Track length4:46

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$1.25

$1.45

III. Allegretto vivace - Allegro animato

Track length4:13

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

IV. Allegro marziale animato

Track length4:08

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125

Work length21:20

$4.40

$5.50

$6.40

Beatrice Berrut (soloist)
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Julien Masmondet

I. Adagio sostenuto assai - Allegro agitato assai - Un poco più mosso - Tempo del andante

Track length7:11

$1.20

$1.50

$1.75

II. Allegro moderato

Track length5:18

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

III. Allegro deciso - Marziale un poco meno allegro - Un poco meno mosso

Track length7:05

$1.20

$1.50

$1.75

IV. Allegro animato

Track length1:46

$1.00

$1.25

$1.45

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The furnace used by alchemists in their search for the philosopher’s matter is indispensable for the maturation of the Great Work. By extension, this furnace, in the shape of a matrix, has become a symbol of their quest for perfection and the absolute. Who does not dream of turning base metals into gold? True alchemists spun out the metaphor and searched not for aurum vulgum but for spiritual fulfilment. And that is where Liszt agreed with them. Eternally dissatisfied, he said that ‘the persistent search for the best possible characterises the true artist’. This search not only had an aesthetic dimension but was also of a moral order, as attest his homage to Paganini: ‘The artist’s role is to awaken and maintain in souls the enthusiasm and passion of Beauty, so close to the passion of Good’.

Why bring together these three works on the same programme? All three were, of course, written for piano and large orchestra. The concertos are both striking for their brevity – compared with other Romantic concertos – as well as the unbroken linking of their movements. Totentanz is in a somewhat different form, being a set of variations on the Gregorian Dies irae theme (based on the Prose of the Dead), but is also of short duration and played without pause.

However it seems to me that there is a strong link between them beyond form. Their joint particularity is their very long gestation: it took 23 years between the first sketch and public performance of the first Concerto, 22 years between the earliest sketches and definitive publication of the second, and 20 years between the rough draft of Totentanz and the version recorded here. Beatrice Berrut

Reviews

Awards Issue 2018

Although she is amply equipped with the requisite virtuosity, Berrut distinguishes herself as a musician with bold ideas of considerable originality and possessing the courage of her convictions. Clearly conversant with Liszt’s ways and means, she imbues each of these three formidable works with distinct character and atmosphere…Berrut is both a pianist who warrants continued attention and a Lisztian to be reckoned with.

Liszt: Athanor

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