Franz Liszt: Piano Sonata, 8 Études d'exécution transcendante & other piano works

Featuring

Sviatoslav Richter
Franz Liszt

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Composition History

Franz Liszt's B minor Sonata, completed in 1853, is dedicated to Robert Schumann, in return for Schumann's C major Fantasy.

Compositional Technique

Liszt revised his Transcendental Studies thirteen years after their initial version, adding picturesque titles to most of them and transforming them into triumphs of poetic imagination.

Critical Reception

The B minor Sonata's originality and daring were initially too much for its first audience; Johannes Brahms reportedly fell asleep during its opening bars.

Critical Reception

Both Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann were suspicious of Liszt's 1838 version of the Transcendental Studies, with Schumann finding them inaccessible due to their difficulty.

Performer Biography

Svjatoslav Richter's first piano recital was on March 19, 1934, and after an audition with Heinrich Neuhaus, a famous pianist and teacher, Neuhaus reportedly whispered, 'this man's a genius'!

Compositional Technique

Liszt's Transcendental Studies originated from his early 1826 Studies, opus 1, which he later transformed into more symphonic and grandiloquent pieces.

Performer Biography

Svjatoslav Richter, the pianist on this album, was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, to a German expatriate father who was a pianist, organist, composer, and professor.