<<  -- 2 --  Robert Anderson    MANE-SHAKING STYLE

The Hungarian Rhapsodies have been questioned more as to their Hungarianness than their rhapsodism. Compared to Brahms in Hungarian mood, who is also more gipsy than Magyar, Liszt is all stops and starts, so that it demands the most subtle pianism to impose coherence on a piece and keep the attention. No 12 is particularly wayward. Once it gets going, though, it has the seductive charm of gipsy music at its most alluring [listen -- track 1, 3:25-4:28]. 'La Vallée d'Obermann' from the Swiss book of Années de pèlerinage is very different. The inspiration is essentially literary and celebrates Senancour's supposed fictional letters written from a remote Alpine valley whence he holds forth on his inactivity, melancholy, boredom, loneliness and yet devotion to the majesty of nature around him. Liszt was clearly moved both by the letters and by the scenery which he knew personally. The result is a piece of profound introspection that elicits from Berkofsky playing often as sensitive as one is likely to hear [listen -- track 2, 3:47-5:17].

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