Liszt: Complete Symphonic Poems Transcribed for Solo Piano, Vol. 4

Featuring

Risto-Matti Marin
Franz Liszt

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Interpretation

August Stradal's solo-piano transcriptions of Liszt's symphonic poems are noted for their 'truly transcendental difficulty' and were intended only for players of exceptional technique.

Performer Biography

August Stradal was considered a leading interpreter of Liszt's music and made over 250 transcriptions of orchestral and chamber works for the piano, spanning from the Baroque era to the late nineteenth century.

Recording & Production

Risto-Matti Marin, the pianist on this album, made his own transcription of Liszt's Symphonic Poem No. 13, 'Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe,' elaborating on Liszt's own sparse piano version.

Performer Biography

August Stradal, the transcriber of most of the works on this album, was a pianist, composer, and writer who studied at the Vienna Conservatoire and became a disciple of Franz Liszt.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Franz Liszt's symphonic poems, including the ones on this album, sprang from his desire for a more immediately dramatic conflict and interconnection of ideas than classical sonata structures allowed.

Performer Biography

Risto-Matti Marin is the first pianist to have recorded the complete August Stradal transcriptions of Franz Liszt's symphonic poems.

Compositional Technique

Liszt developed structural principles of thematic metamorphosis, often combined with programmatic elements from literature or painting, drawing inspiration from Berlioz's idée fixe and Schubert's 'Wanderer' Fantasy.