FRANZ LISZT : Liszt at the Opera II (Leslie Howard) 2CD (1998) APE (image+.cue), lossless

In the notes to the first volume of Liszt at the Opera it was observed that the species to which Liszt contributed so fulsomely has not always been regarded with great favour, although, considering the art which Liszt brings to all of his operatic piano works, the criticisms in his case seem churlish. And, as so often with Liszt, the whole category of works used to be condemned on the basis of a scant acquaintance with one or two of the pieces. Things appear to be improving somewhat, and the present writer can at least claim to have given an all—‘Liszt at the Opera’ recital programme in many different countries without risk to health or reputation. The works in this second gathering, like the first, show many different ways of treating the original materials and range over a good many years of Liszt’s creative life.
The pieces based on Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète represent Liszt’s largest work in this genre. Even without the ‘Ad nos’, the Illustrations are enormous, and manage to include many aspects of the opera. Le Prophète was a tremendous success in its day and, although there have been recent revivals, it is really necessary to try and think of the work as it must have seemed to Meyerbeer’s contemporaries to imagine (understand?) why Liszt should have taken quite such an interest in it. But no apologies are required for the attractive and sensible skills of Meyerbeer’s composition, and many music lovers will recall the successo strepitoso of Constant Lambert’s ballet Les Patineurs culled from the same source. And the Coronation March, in various arrangements, was a regular drawing-room and organ loft companion for half a century or more.

The first Illustration is of the medley paraphrase variety. It may, of course, be performed independently of its fellows, but the pieces work very well as a contrasted set, and there is a certain amount of thematic cross-referencing.

Although Liszt’s subtitle accounts for the main material of the piece, the movement is seriously infiltrated by the Coronation March which appears, ghostlike, at the outset, and whose trio section dominates the peroration. The Prière is rather fragmented but introduces the theme ‘Ad nos’ in Meyerbeer’s original compound time (cf. the ‘Ad nos’ Fantasy and Fugue). Quite the most impressive passage is the fanfare which leads from the Hymne to the Marche du sacre, which is itself defiantly four-square.
More notes of Leslie Howard