Kenneth Hamilton Plays Liszt, Volume 1: Death and Transfiguration

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You can think of this impressive release as a two-disc illustration of its title or simply as a pair of satisfying, carefully programmed Liszt recitals...I cannot recommend it too highly. — Gramophone Magazine, February 2022 More…

Release Date: 26th Nov 2021
Catalogue No: PFCD167
Label: Prima Facie
Length: 2 hours 31 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

February 2022

Editor's Choice
Record Review

12th February 2022

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Excerpt, Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses (10), S. 173

Work length27:29

Album only

Kenneth Hamilton

VII. Funérailles

Track length12:00

$2.05

$3.05

$4.05

III. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude

Track length15:29

Album only

Liszt: Csárdás macabre, S. 224

Work length7:12

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses III, S.173: IV. Pensée des morts

Work length12:14

$2.05

$3.05

$4.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Nuages gris, S199

Work length2:40

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, S178

Work length27:15

Album only

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Ballade No.2, S.171

Work length14:39

$2.05

$3.05

$4.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: En rêve, S.207 "Nocturne"

Work length2:09

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Abschied, S.251 "Russian Folksong"

Work length2:31

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, S.274

Work length6:08

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Dem Andenken Petöfis, S.195

Work length3:36

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Harmonies poétiques et religieuses III, S.173: II. Ave Maria

Work length6:29

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Schubert's Impromptus in Gb major, S.565b

Work length6:25

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Prelude on "Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen", S. 179

Work length5:43

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: La lugubre gondola, S.200

Work length4:22

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Romance, S.169

Work length3:20

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Romance oubliée, S.527

Work length3:28

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Die Lorelei

Work length6:29

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, S.188

Work length2:31

$1.00

$1.50

$2.05

Kenneth Hamilton

Liszt: Isoldens Liebestod from "Tristan und Isolde", S. 447

Work length7:03

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

Kenneth Hamilton

About
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About

This is a Liszt recording with a difference: repertoire reflecting love, death and transfiguration, memory and nostalgia, performed by internationally renowned pianist and Liszt expert Kenneth Hamilton.

It goes without saying that Hamilton has intensively studied the original scores of these pieces, but in addition he has sought out and taken seriously Liszt's often ignored recommendations on their interpretation, passed down from the many reminiscences and recordings of students who worked closely with the composer. He has, in effect, tried to think like a Liszt pupil, to immerse himself in a performance tradition that goes beyond the printed text, and to respect Liszt's long legacy of teaching his own music.

New insights abound, even in such popular pieces as the Sonata in b minor: Hamilton's powerful recording reflects not only the interpretative nuances suggested by Liszt, but also adopts a strikingly moving revised reading of the Sonata's final page. The luscious Lorelei likewise incorporates the composer's later improvements, and the renditions of both Funrailles and Bndiction de Dieu profit from Liszt's detailed advice on tempo flexibility, arpeggiation and ornamentation. Insights extend to hidden meanings within the music, as outlined in Hamilton's own notes to the recording. The wonderful second Ballade is revealed as a "love-death" anticipating by several years the Wagner/Liszt Liebestod that ends the album, while the fascinatingly intertwined relationships linking the other pieces are lucidly and elegantly explained. A truly remarkable recording, and a milestone in the history of Liszt performance.

Described by the Moscow Kommersant as "an outstanding virtuoso; one of the finest players of his generation", by Tom Service in the Guardian as "pianist, author, lecturer and all-round virtuoso", and by Stefan Pieper in Klassik Heute as a "pianist, scholar, radical thinker and philosopher", Kenneth Hamilton is well-known as a recitalist and recording artist of emotional depth and striking originality. His CDs have attracted both critical acclaim and a large number of listeners worldwide. His award-winning After the Golden Age: Romantic Pianism and Modern Performance (Oxford University Press) is one of the most internationally influential books on music of recent decades.

Reviews

February 2022

You can think of this impressive release as a two-disc illustration of its title or simply as a pair of satisfying, carefully programmed Liszt recitals...I cannot recommend it too highly.

2nd December 2021

The performances never duck any of the considerable technical challenges that the piano writing regularly presents, but never seem to regard them as an end in themselves...there’s directness, clarity and an absolute lack of unnecessary point-making in everything Hamilton does.

Kenneth Hamilton Plays Liszt, Volume 1: Death and Transfiguration

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