Majestic Liszt. Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist. Navona Records NV6632.
The title of this strikes me as something of a misnomer. Call it a "Lisztnomer." Majestic Liszt? Certainly one or two pieces in this offering can be called "majestic," and there are perhaps some majestic moments in some of the rest of them. (Decide for yourself: here's a Liszt. Sorry, a LIST.) But overall? Ehhh. I don't know if I'd choose the word "majestic'; there's a lot of rather dreamy stuff included. A description at the label website (found here) does little to support the appellation. (I'll admit that I haven't read the liner notes.) Anyway, on the surface it seems like kind of a strange situation.
Far more important are the album's performances. Notwithstanding one or two quibbles, they're fantastic. We'll start with the quibbles and save the best for last. At over 18 minutes, Erdely-Sayo's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is too slow for my taste. I know, I know: plenty of performances stretch for longer than that. (This includes the recent one by Emmanuel Despax that I reviewed last month here and praised.) But Erdely-Sayo doesn't get the tone colors out of this piece that Despax does, and while her interpretation is perfectly fine in other respects, the chosen tempo is a hang-up I couldn't quite shake in this particular case. I really don't think the Bénédiction needs to last much longer than 15 or 16 minutes. If it does, we maybe risk having too much majesty.
The only other problem I perceived is that Erdely-Sayo very occasionally underplays some melodic notes. I caught at least two instances. The first happens later in the Bénédiction when the tune sits atop some thick chords – it got obscured for a bar or two. Then in the first Consolation one or two of the melodic pitches barely get touched during a soft passage. (This is admittedly hard to bring off.)
But none of that matters much next to some really fine playing. All of the Consolations are beautifully rendered. The well-known Third is suitably, silkily magical; I don't know that it's possible to play it much better. Erdely-Sayo brings an earnest passion to the famous Liebesträume No. 3, and easily holds her own in comparison with celebrated performances. Her En rêve and Schubert-Liszt Ständchen are absolutely resplendent...a real joy to listen to.
Navona's above-quoted description suggests that this recording may be ideal for those new to Liszt's music. Questionable title aside, I will prescribe it to such listeners without hesitation. Erdely-Sayo is clearly a capable advocate, and I look forward to her next release.
Majestically Recommended
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