FRANZ LISZT : The Schubert Transcriptions II (Leslie Howard) 3CD (1998) APE (image+.cue), lossless

This second collection of Liszt’s tributes to the genius of Schubert is largely confined to song transcriptions, and especially to the sets of pieces based on the song cycles Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise and the posthumously assembled Schwanengesang.
Liszt’s methods and intentions in his Schubert song transcriptions vary quite broadly. There are some simple arrangements, in which vocal line and accompaniment are wedded comfortably without much in the way of decoration. Then there are works where the first verse of a song is given unembroidered, but what amounts to a set of variations follows, and oft-times the variation is predicated by the text of the song. (Liszt’s number of variations is sometimes greater or fewer than the number of verses in Schubert’s songs, however.) Finally there is a group of very freely treated songs where the transcription endeavours to give full expression to the ideas behind the song as well as the musical text itself. This last phenomenon is the one which has caused most criticism historically, and therefore warrants a little explanation.

There is no doubt that simply adding the vocal line to the existing accompaniment does not often make a meaningful transcription, even though it might make a reasonable documentary account of the original notes. Just as in his transcriptions of orchestral music by Beethoven, Berlioz or Wagner, Liszt often conveys a precision of sound and spirit by his conscious avoidance of literal representation of the notes, so with the song transcriptions does he often compensate for the sound of a great singer in full flight in response to both words and music by adopting an apparently new musical text. Sometimes the tempo of a transcription, because of the variations in the verses, may seem slightly different from customary usage, but Liszt’s interpretations may also reveal to us a different attitude and tradition towards tempo which might otherwise not have survived. Of course, for much of the museum-culture-minded twentieth century, what were perceived as Liszt’s gross liberties with the text were sacrilegious, but any careful examination of Liszt’s broader aims shows his comprehensive understanding of Schubert’s idiom.
More Notes of Leslie Howard