Recording Review #20: Luminous Liszt

Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (from Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie); Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses); Funérailles (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses); Nuages gris; Piano Sonata in B Minor. Emmanuel Despax, piano. Signum Classics SIG CD798. 2 CD. 

Emmanuel Despax is an avid Lisztian. Being one myself, it's easy for me to cheer such people on nowadays, especially when Liszt seems to be needing friends more than ever. Happily, there is much to recommend in Despax's latest offering, which features a generous helping of Liszt's greatest music. Frankly, I get tired of defending Liszt to people who turn their noses up at him and should have the taste and imagination to know better. But ultimately good performances of his best stuff will change hearts and minds more than anything people like me can say. 

We start with an extremely good Dante Sonata. This is a difficult work to approach interpretively. The form is winding and there are plenty of opportunities for miscalculation. But Despax forges a path that somehow elucidates this complex, problematic score. The agitated material starting at the first Presto is very hard to bring off without it sounding noisy. Despax succeeds brilliantly. But where he is at his best both here and elsewhere is in the quieter, more visionary passages. The F-Sharp Major theme at the Andante is a case in point, and even more so in its repetition to come in the higher register. 

Despax's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is almost as good. My preference is for more passion in its moments of intensity, and Despax's tempo is slower in many places than I'd like. But never mind. The sounds and colors he gets from Liszt's scrumptious harmonies are some of the best I've ever heard. Maybe the slower tempo even works to an advantage, because practically all you can think about while you hear some of these passages is how much you want to savor them like Despax clearly does. The middle section presents some of the most poetic music Liszt composed, and Despax's tone color throughout it is just lovely. 

I was similarly impressed with Funérailles, which some pianists ruin by "over-banging" the grief-stricken climaxes. Despax keeps things controlled in the best sense, never overdoing loud passages while maintaining a delicate sound in the tender ones. By contrast I thought there could be a bit more grey mystery in Nuages gris. But Despax delivers a fine interpretation all the same. 

Of course the elephant in this room is the B-Minor Sonata, which Jim Svejda has adroitly described as being one of the few Romantic-era piano sonatas equal to any of those Beethoven composed. There is accordingly a huge recording catalogue for this work, with a nice share of legendary outings. The interested pianist therefore has to contend both with formidable technical and interpretive difficulties, and with an intimidating performance history. Despax's is one of the slower run-times I have encountered, clocking in at just under 35 minutes. I was apprehensive when I saw this, but you shouldn't be. Most of that extra time is again used up in the slower passages where Despax very deliberately relishes the gorgeous melodies and thoughtful moments. But he doesn't shrink from the many virtuosic passages, which are dispatched with an admirable mixture of control and élan. The attenuated conclusion is perfect. I don't know where you'll rank Despax's B-Minor Sonata in the Pantheon of Liszt B-Minor Sonatas, but there's enough that's special here for me to place it firmly in good company.

Warmly Recommended