Liszt: Consolations

by Saskia Giorgini

Overview

Pianist Saskia Giorgini found both critical and commercial success with her 2022 recording of Liszt's Harmonies poetiques et religieuses, and this 2023 release, which immediately climbed onto classical best-seller charts, follows directly on the earlier album, with the same Boesendorfer piano and the same recording location, the Lisztzentrum in Raiding, Austria. Listeners will not be disappointed, for Consolations has all the virtues of her first Liszt album and adds a few more. The wonderfully controlled lyricism of the Harmonies poetiques et religieuses recurs in the heavily programmatic title work, where Giorgini's playing hints at the presence of all kinds of stories. She plainly excels in the religious, late Liszt, and there are two wonderful examples here, the Deux Legends, portraits of St. Francis of Assisi praying to the birds, and of St. Francois de Paule. These are difficult works that combine mysticism with Lisztian virtuosity; annotator Mark Berry is right to stress that Liszt did not fully renounce the virtuosity in his later years, but that is not all. Giorgini is just as good in the flashy Three Caprices-Valses and the reflective Liebestraeume, the best-known music on the album. In the Valse-Impromptu, she has an uncanny way of suggesting the feeling of spontaneity that seems to have marked Liszt's own playing. Will Giorgini go on with Liszt? She certainly has the technical and emotional wherewithal to do so and to take on more famous works than these. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	06/09/2023
Label:	Pentatone Classics
UPC:	8717306260459
Rank:	7807

Tracks

1. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 1. Andante con moto
2. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 2. Un poco più mosso
3. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 3. Lento placido
4. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 4. Quasi Adagio, cantabile con devozione
5. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 5. Andantino
6. 6 Consolations, S.172~No. 6. Allegretto sempre cantabile
7. 3 Caprices-Valses, S.214~No. 1 in B-flat Major "Valse de bravoure"
8. 3 Caprices-Valses, S.214~No. 2 in E Major "Valse mélancolique"
9. 3 Caprices-Valses, S.214~No. 3 in A Major "Valse de concert sur deux motifs de Lucia et Parisina de Donizetti"
10. Valse Impromptu S.213
11. Liebesträume, S.541~No. 1 in A-flat Major "Hohe Liebe"
12. Liebesträume, S.541~No. 2 in E-flat Major "Seliger Tod"
13. Liebesträume, S.541~No. 3 in A-flat Major "Oh Lieb, so lang du lieben kannst"
14. 2 Légendes, S.175~No. 1. St François d'Assise: la prédication aux oiseaux
15. 2 Légendes, S.175~No. 2. St François de Paule: marchant sur les flots

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Saskia Giorgini   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Julia Wesely   Photography,Cover Photo
Renaud Loranger   A&R
Christian Schedl   Piano Technician
Silvia Pietrosanti   Marketing
Mark Berry   Liner Notes
Saskia Giorgini   Liner Notes,Executive Producer
Marjolein Coenrady   Cover Design
Francesca Mariani   Design,Product Manager
Kasper van Kooten   Design,Product Manager,Executive Producer
Franz Liszt   Composer
Sean Hickey   Managing Director
Jens Jamin   Digital Editing,Balance Engineer,Recording Producer