(Raymond Lewenthal | 1969 | Live) Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage I (Suisse), S.160

Описание: If Brahms looked within with his late piano pieces (previous video), the world was the muse for the young Liszt. The first book of Années de Pèlerinage has its origin in Liszt's stay in Switzerland with Marie d'Agoult in the mid 1830s. Initially subtitled "Impressions et Poésies", it deals predominantly with the country's breathtaking scenery, but also some of its literature through the national icon Wilhelm Tell and de Senancour's novel 'Obermann' (French in origin, but set in Switzerland). And sure, there is a bit of the human experience in here too. In 'Le mal du pays' towards the end - Homesickness - which so perfectly puts its finger on the sensation of boredom, without being a boring listen in the least itself!

Listening to either of the Années it never ceases to amaze me with what skill, and with what beauty, Liszt was able to express the natural world in music. It's as if what he saw, what he felt, what he thought, was distilled in to a vibrant impression he kept in his mind, which through his musical talent was transformed in to equally vibrant expression as he sat down at the piano. Then finally reaching embodiment in his compositions, each of which - well or ill formulated - have a token from life encapsulated within them. Liszt prefaced several of the pieces in this volume with lines of poetry. Omitted in the revised 1855 print, but the first version of 'The Bells of Geneva' has a caption from stanza III:72 of Byron's 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage', which seems particularly aptly chosen coming from Liszt:

"I live not in myself, but I become
portion of that around me"

Guiding us on the journey in this recording is American pianist Raymond Lewenthal (1923-1988). Lewenthal is likely a forgotten name today to anyone who isn't a specialist in piano recordings, but he has long been one of my heroes at the piano. His large sound, romantic identity, active mind, and pleasant personality all serve him well here. Lewenthal incidentally made an abandoned studio recording of the first two books of the Années in 1966, which was only released last year through the painstaking editing work of my friend Farhan Malik. Definitely worth a look.


Liszt: Années de Pèlerinage I (Suisse), S.160 (1837/1855)

00:00 - 1. Chapelle de Guillaume Tell | "One for all, all for one"

05:52 - 2. Au lac de Wallenstadt | "Thy contrasted lake
With the wide world I dwelt in, is a thing
Which warns me, with its stillness, to forsake
Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring"

08:55 - 3. Pastorale

10:35 - 4. Au bord d'une source | "In whispering coolness, begins young nature's play"

14:06 - 5. Orage | "But where of ye, oh tempests! is the goal?
Are ye like those within the human breast?
Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some high nest?"

17:59 - 6. Vallée d'Obermann | "Could I embody and unbosom now
That which is most within me, - could I wreak
My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw
Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak,
All that I would have sought, and all I seek,
Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe - into one word,
And that one word were Lightning, I would speak;
But as it is, I live and die unheard,
With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword"

29:55 - 7. Eglogue | "The morn is up again, the dewy morn,
With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom,
Laughing the clouds away with playful scorn,
And living as if earth contained no tomb!"

33:27 - 8. Le mal du pays

38:22 - 9. Les cloches de Genève (Nocturne)


Raymond Lewenthal, piano (1969)
Source: Radio Broadcast

(Can you guess the poets? Wikipedia or any edition of the set is your friend if you can not)

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https://classical-pianists.net/
Liszt's pages: https://classical-pianists.net/genera...
Lewenthal's pages: https://classical-pianists.net/genera...