Liszt's sheer industry is one of his most daunting characteristics; his enthusiasm, indeed his voracious appetite, for music of all sorts and conditions whether as composer, conductor, pianist, teacher or transcriber remains unparalleled.
The transcriptions featured on this disc are of works whose composers have faded almost entirely from recognition, yet Liszt never fails to imbue their compositional efforts with his own inimitable sparkle and flair.
Since 1985, Leslie Howard has been engaged on the largest recording project ever undertaken by a solo pianist nothing less than the complete solo piano music of Liszt, a project which will total some eighty discs on the Hyperion label. By the end of 1995, Howard has completed 56 of these and been awarded a Grand Prix du Disque for no fewer than five volumes of the series.
GRAMOPHONE CRITICS' CHOICE
'On sera étonné par la supreme droiture du compositeur, traitant des mélodies de Herbeck ou Lasson avec la meme science que celles de Schubert' (Diapason, France)
'Vol 37 is a record not only to which lovers of Liszt can return, but which should give pleasure to those who may never have heard of some of the composers transcribed but enjoy the minor, overgrown paths of the nineteenth century' (Gramophone)
'Here is a pleasant hour-plus of mid-century memorabilia for the general listener, teasing fare for the musical anatomist, and another indispensable album for the collector ... As befits such a program, Howard's graceful, extensive notes are full of quaint and curious lore. Hyperion's sound is spaciously, transparently immediate. Recommended' (Fanfare, USA)
'Leslie Howard's survey of the whole of Liszt's piano music is disclosing marvels, played with magisterial perception and unfaltering virtuosity; his notes to each record are an enlightenment in themselves' (Gramophone)
Recording details: March 1995; Unknown, Unknown; Produced by Tryggvi Tryggvason; Engineered by Marian Freeman & Tryggvi Tryggvason; Release date: March 1996;