COMPOSERS: Bach,Busoni,J Strauss,Prokofiev & Schulz-Evler,Rachmaninoff,Schoenberg & Wagner,Schubert,Schumann,Transcribed By Liszt
LABELS: Harmonia Mundi Suite
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: Piano Transcriptions
WORKS: Works by Bach, Schubert, Schumann, J Strauss, Schoenberg & Wagner, transcribed by Liszt , Rachmaninoff, Busoni, Prokofiev & Schulz-Evler
PERFORMER: Frederic Chiu (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: HMT 7907054 Reissue (1991)
This is virtuoso playing in the best sense, and only the most churlish listener could fail to respond to it. From the fin-de-siècle decadence of Schulz-Evler’s Arabesque on the Blue Danube, to the more restrained treatments of Bach by Rachmaninoff and Busoni, Chiu finds exactly the right range of sound and approach. The CD is intelligently planned, with the heavyweight Busoni version of one of Schoenberg’s piano pieces, and Liszt’s glorious transmogrification of Wagner’s Liebestod forming the centrepiece, followed by a handful of song transcriptions, and leading back to the waltz - this time by Schubert, via the desk of Prokofiev. Martin Cotton
Bach, Schubert, Schumann, J Strauss, Schoenberg & Wagner, Transcribed By Liszt , Rachmaninoff, Busoni, Prokofiev & Schulz-Evler
This is virtuoso playing in the best sense, and only the most churlish listener could fail to respond to it. From the fin-de-siècle decadence of Schulz-Evler’s Arabesque on the Blue Danube, to the more restrained treatments of Bach by Rachmaninoff and Busoni, Chiu finds exactly the right range of sound and approach.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:18 pm