Liszt So n a t a i n B m i n o r Da n t e So n a t a Siji x Ch a n t s Po l o n a i s Ke v i n Fi t z -Ge r a l d Pi a n i s t Après une Lecture du Fantasia quasi Sonata In September of 1839, however, Liszt was living with an earlier mistress, the countess Marie d’Agoult, and their three children, in the small Italian fishing (1811-1886) village of San Rossore, near Pisa in the region of Tuscany. At that time he began work on a Fragment nach Dante (Fragment after Dante), a piano work inspired by a reading of ’s Divina Commedia (1308-1321). On September 26, Marie wrote a letter to the painter Henri Lehmann, saying: “The bravo suonatore ij [a good player] began this morning a fragment dantesque which is sending him to the very Devil. He is so consumed by it that he won’t go to Naples, so as to No one doubts that Franz Liszt was one of the greatest pianists of all time. complete this work.” Having two thematically related parts, Liszt gave the first He was also the composer of a vast oeuvre, including some of the finest repertoire public performance of the work at Vienna on December 5 of that year. The ever composed for the piano. We hear several such works on this recording. manuscript of this version of the work has disappeared. All of the pieces recorded here were composed while Liszt was the In 1849, shortly after settling in , Liszt revised the piece, conflating Kapellmeister–the director of chapel music–for the court in Weimar, where he its two parts into a one-movement sonata, and giving it a title borrowed from was employed from 1848 to 1861. In this capacity he also served as conductor a poem written twelve years earlier by Victor Hugo: Après une lecture de Dante. of the court orchestra, numbering some forty-five players. Liszt had only Hugo’s poem is number twenty-seven from a set of thirty-two titled Les Voix recently retired from the concert stage, at the young age of 35, while he was intérieures (1837). Its first line reads (in French): “When the poet paints , at the height of his power as a performer, doing so on the recommendation he paints his life.” After further revisions, Liszt published his work in a three- of Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, with whom he lived during his volume set entitled Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). Volume I is titled Weimar years. At her urging, Liszt concentrated on composition rather than Première année: Suisse (First Year: Switzerland), and contains nine pieces, a performance. It was a very fruitful period in his life. number of which were revisions of works published earlier. Volume II is titled

- 2 - - 3 - Deuxième année: Italie (Second Year: Italy), and contains eleven works, three and there were only rare performances of it. The English composer, conductor, of which are revised versions of his Tre sonetti del Petrarca (Three Sonnets of and critic, Constant Lambert, advocated for Liszt when it was unpopular to do Petrarch). The inspiration for these works is rooted in Liszt’s impressions of the so, and he made an arrangement of the work for piano and orchestra which literature, painting, and sculpture of the Italian Renaissance. The seventh work was used by Frederick Ashton for a ballet that was popular during the Second in this volume is the one that interests us here and is titled: Après une Lecture World War. The piece was arranged for two pianos by Vittorio Bresciani. du [sic] Dante: Fantasia Quasi Sonata (After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia rather Liszt also wrote a Dante , another work in , which he like a Sonata), commonly known as the . Volume III is titled simply completed in 1856. Its first orchestral performance, in Dresden in 1857, was Troisième année (Third Year) and contains eleven works. under-rehearsed and unsuccessful, but the work gradually won acceptance. Considered by Alan Walker “the crowning achievement” of the Italian Liszt’s original plan was to write three movements: , and volume, the Dante Sonata is “one of Liszt’s more formidable compositions.” An , but his friend and future son in law, , advised against improvisatory work of a decidedly programmatic nature, the first part, in D a musical portrayal of paradise, and Liszt instead added a choral setting of the minor, depicts Dante’s harrowing descent into hell. The key of D minor is often first verse of the , which is generally considered to be an unsuccessful used for pieces about death and the underworld. It opens appropriately with conclusion to the work. By 1859 Liszt had transcribed the symphony for two an ominous series of falling –the so-called devil in music–destabilizing pianos, and he played this version in Paris with Camille Saint-Saëns at the all sense of tonality. Along with a descending chromatic line, it provides the home of the artist, engraver, illustrator, and sculptor, Gustave Doré. menacing thematic material for the first part of the work. The second part, in the raised mediant of F-sharp major, portrays the beatific vision of paradise. Chopin/Liszt: Six Chants Polonais This key is often used for depictions of religious devotion and heavenly bliss. The theme for this part of the work is similar to a and is derived from the Known primarily as the composer of works for piano, the great French- theme of the first part, providing an example of Liszt’s so-called metamorphosis Polish pianist Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) also composed two concertos, a of themes. The struggle between the two keys represents the ultimate triumph few chamber works, and some songs. He wrote neither opera, symphony, nor of over hell, a struggle depicted in a great many of Liszt’s works. oratorio. His works for solo piano include études, preludes, ballades, scherzos, The Dante Sonata was little understood for the half century after its premiere, rondos, impromptus, mazurkas, nocturnes, waltzes, sonatas, polonaises, a

- 4 - - 5 - fantasie, and some miscellaneous works. Liszt’s order Chopin’s order, English translation But between 1829 and 1847, Chopin wrote nineteen song settings of poems and German title Polish title, poet, date of the Polish by six Polish poets, of which seventeen appear in his Polish Melodies, opus 74. 1 Mädchens Wunsch 1 Zyczenie (S. Witwicki) The Maiden’s Wish Of these seventeen, collected and published in 1857, Franz Liszt used six as 1829 the basis of works for solo piano, which he composed between 1857 and 1860, 2 Der Frühling 2 Wiosna (S. Witwicki) Spring dedicating them to Princess Carolyne von Sayn-Wittengenstein to whom he was 1838 then engaged. While Liszt’s works are called transcriptions, and to a real degree 3 Das Ringlein 14 Pierscien (S. Witwicki) The Ring that is what they are, most of them are also modest expansions on Chopin’s 1836 original ideas, developing the thoughts contained in the original poems. 4 Bacchanal 4 Hulanka (S. Witwicki) Drinking Song With only a few exceptions the original Chopin songs, with piano 1830 accompaniment, are uncomplicated, direct, forthright...and even sight-readable, 5 Meine Freuden 12 Moja Pieszczotka (A. Mickiewicz) My Sweetheart unlike most of his solo piano works. All of them are beautiful, but they were not 1831 published during his lifetime and are among the least known of all his works. In 6 Die Heimkehr 15 Narzeczony (S. Witwicki) The Bridegroom his transcriptions Liszt often uses Chopin’s material almost verbatim, sometimes 1831 filling out the accompaniment, but he frequently also provides a rather free version of a “second stanza” of a song, and adds elaborative interludes or codas. In two instances the German translations of the titles are not identical to the The songs are charming and delightful, with only Die Heimkehr containing some original Polish and, in fact, they give distracting notions of their poems’ content. darker, bravura passages. The transcriptions are among Liszt’s more popular For example, we have the German title Meine Freuden (My Joys) while the Polish pieces. means My Sweetheart, and the German Die Heimkehr (The Homecoming) while The relationship of Liszt’s piano arrangements to Chopin’s songs is somewhat the Polish means The Bridegroom. In all other instances the German and the complex and the following table may help to clarify it. Polish are equivalent and they give fair notions of the contents of the poems. Of the songs used by Liszt, all but one were written by the poet Stefan Witwicki. The song Meine Freuden (Polish: Moja Pieszczotka) was written by the poet

- 6 - - 7 - Adam Mickiewicz. the piano. Meine Freuden is a typical love song; and certainly Bacchanal is a typical But it has not always been so. For one of his recitals at Carnegie Hall in New drinking song. But the other poems have lyrical twists. In the mazurka-like York City, the great Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) performed Mädchens Wunsch, for instance, a high-spirited song about flirtation, the lover the Sonata, and a reviewer described it as having “much gloom in its composition, wishes she were the sun, the better to shine on all of creation. In Frühling, a intentional and otherwise.” herder enjoys the sights and fragrances of spring, but with a tear in his eye. In Ringlein the lover sings of his regret that the woman who accepted his ring is It is another long and exacting work for both player and now married to another man. In the anxious Die Heimkehr, the wind howls and hearers. It is not often favored by virtuosos, but has been the ravens gather above while the bridegroom’s lover lies in her grave. once or twice heard here within a few years. It has all the Liszt was not the only composer to find new uses for Chopin’s melodic characteristics of Liszt when he sets out to be a great composer; gifts. The renowned Parisian mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot-Garcia, born into his achievement pants far in the rear of his ambition, and he a Spanish family of opera singers, was also a pianist and in fact studied piano puts through the most involved processes musical material with Liszt. She often played duets with her friend Chopin, who authorized her that turns to ashes in his hand as he works with it. This sonata arrangement of some of his mazurkas as songs. goes through all the motions of being grandiose, profound, tragic, pathetic, and beautifully elegiac; but it never comes nearer than a faint suggestion of any of these qualities. It is a Sonata in B Minor work that Liszt’s admirers are never tired of writing and talking With the Sonata in B Minor we come to one of the giants of all piano about, discussing and analyzing. It lends itself admirably to all literature. It is a magisterial work, a monument of nineteenth-century piano these procedures–to everything except hearing. repertoire. Entire books have been written about this piece, including those by Sharon Winklhofer and Kenneth Hamilton, and upwards of sixty recordings are There is a tale that Johannes Brahms fell asleep during a private performance on commercial labels. Scholars have debated its formal structure and agreed to of the work by Liszt himself, although the legend may be hearsay. Clara disagree on its fundamental shapes. It is today considered Liszt’s greatest work for Schumann detested the piece even though it is dedicated to her husband Robert

- 8 - - 9 - Schumann (who also disliked it). It was attacked by conservative critics such as however, is rare in that Liszt provided no story line of any sort, no scene, no hints Eduard Hanslick and by the pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. A German about imagery or historical events, and no references to nature, art, or literature, newspaper referred to it as “an invitation to hissing and stomping.” or to any other extra-musical inspiration. He provides for a title a word that identifies only the work’s musical structure: sonata. But it is the use of that very Nevertheless the piece had its advocates. One no less than Richard Wagner word that has prompted so much debate. wrote: The formal, classical sonata has three clearly distinct parts: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. The typical sonata is also characterized by My dear Franz... Your sonata is beautiful beyond expression, certain standard key relationships and of the relationship of two given themes. grand, graceful, profound, noble, sublime–just like you. It Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven wrote many piano sonatas, and the first movements touched the very heart of me, and all at once the misery of of many of their follow . But after the death of Beethoven, London is forgotten.... It was wonderful!...many, many thanks the sonata fell into decline. for such infinite enjoyment! Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, however, has four broad sections (though some hear three) in a single movement, and instead of having two prominent themes Wagner wrote this compliment a considerable time before he became the second vying for attention, the work is generated by several motifs that evolve through husband to Liszt’s daughter Cosima. cyclical metamorphosis into a massive musical architecture. Scholars disagree as The Sonata was composed in 1852-1853, and though it was performed to where the different sections begin and end–and we shall not attempt to resolve privately for several years, its first official public performance took place on the debate here! Many agree, however, that the development begins with the slow January 27, 1857 in Berlin, by Liszt’s pupil and son-in-law, Hans von Bülow–the section and the recapitulation with the . In his Grosses Concert-Solo (1851), first husband to his daughter Cosima. In recent years the work has had countless a work for piano solo, Liszt had already experimented with a non-programmatic devotees and admirers. “four-movements-in-one” form, so the concept was not new with the Sonata. Authorities on the Sonata have debated two principal matters: its form as a At the same time, however, some have wondered why Liszt chose to call the sonata, and whether the work is programmatic. Some ninety percent of Liszt’s work a sonata in the first place, when in many ways it is more typical of a fantasy. works have a descriptive title or a clearly programmatic content. This Sonata, In 1880, over twenty-five years after its composition, Charles Bannelier wrote,

- 10 - - 11 - “the arduous progress from primal evil to blessedness, a sequence related to the Liszt’s Sonata...is more a fantasy, a framework for a symphonic fourteen stations of the cross, with various episodes representing the Crucifixion, poem, than a sonata. New things require new names; why struggle, repose, and prayer” (Paul Shoemaker). keep the classic designation for a work whose liberty of form is It is probably best to respect Liszt’s silence on the subject, considering how driven to excess? No doubt there is an underlying programme; commonly he provided programs for so many of his other works. The Sonata hardly we were not given it, but we are not too sorry, because we needs a program to prove its worth, even if, on hearing, it has an undeniably epic would probably not have appreciated to a significantly greater narrative quality. Derek Lim perhaps said it the most adroitly: “The best accounts extent the chaotic beauties which comprise a good half of his of the Liszt Sonata make you feel as if a story has been told, or a journey traveled very long musical narrative. is at its end.”

Agreeing with Bannelier, it is probably best to hear this masterful work as a fantasy onto which the basic elements of sonata form have been imposed, Mendelssohn/Liszt/Horowitz/Fitz-Gerald – Wedding March regardless of all attempts to give the piece a program. In this capacity the piece William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a romantic comedy, has been enormously successful at engaging the musical intellects of generations written around 1594-1596. It depicts the adventures of two young couples along of musicologists. Above all, it is a testament to Liszt’s genius. with the antics of some amateur actors engaged with the faeries who inhabit Nevertheless many authorities have been unable to listen to the work without a moonlit forest, all to celebrate the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and assigning it a program of some kind, the better to appreciate its riches. Alan Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. The play is one of Shakespeare’s most popular Walker notes three common contenders: a musical portrait of the Faust legend, works for the stage. Young Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) and his sisters Fanny and Rebecca a conflict between the divine and the diabolical based on the Bible and Milton’s grew up in an enlightened household. Fanny was a gifted musician and Rebecca Paradise Lost, an allegory of the dealing with the fall of man, was a linguist who could read Homer in the original Greek. They were tutored with themes representing God, Lucifer, the Serpent, and Adam and Eve. in English, French, and German, and they enjoyed reading Shakespeare aloud, Brown has proposed that the work is autobiographical: a celebration of Liszt’s assuming the various roles in his plays. In 1826, the family obtained a German relationship with Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein. Paul Barnes views the work as translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream written by August Wilhelm Schlegel.

- 12 - - 13 - Captivated by it, Felix–at age seventeen–began composing the eponymous orchestra in Weimar. In fact he and Mendelssohn were friends. During his time overture, op. 21 for the play. It was first performed in Stettin, in 1827. Itis in Weimar, Liszt wrote piano transcriptions of two pieces from the work several considered by some to be the first instance of a concert overture. Sixteen years years after Mendelssohn had died: the Wedding March and Dance of the Elves later the King of Prussia, Frederick William IV, asked the now older Mendelssohn (1849-1850). Liszt titled them Concert paraphrases. In the Wedding March he adds to compose some incidental music for Shakespeare’s play, which he did. octaves, dramatic scale work, filigree and trills, enriches the accompaniment, doubles the parts, adds some development and totally new material, some of So four years before he died, Mendelssohn composed the additional twelve it virtuosic and dramatic, but generally uses all of Mendelssohn’s material for incidental pieces for orchestra, soloists and chorus, to be performed in the course further expansion and elaboration. It is certainly not merely a literal transcription of Shakespeare’s play, including fanfares, dances, interludes, and songs, perhaps of the original orchestral score. the most famous incidental music ever composed (with Beethoven’s score The Russian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz wrote his own variations of for Goethe’s Egmont a close second). It was premiered in Berlin for a German Liszt’s transcription, giving it a Mendelssohn-Liszt-Horowitz pedigree. But Kevin performance of the play. (The score, however, indicates that its first complete Fitz-Gerald made even further revisions to the work. He writes: performance–without the play?–was in 1843 at the Palais de Port-Dam.) The ninth piece, played between acts IV and V, is the famous Wedding March, I reworked the original Liszt transcription using it as the base model but added some of my own reworking as well as some arguably the most frequently performed of all Mendelssohn’s works, thanks of Horowitz’s emendations. I was never satisfied with Liszt’s to its appearance at the end of so many weddings. (The work was played at passage writing. After learning the Horowitz version I felt it the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Victoria, to Crown Prince was too over-the-top in the harmony and variations. My idea Frederick of Prussia in 1858.) Most symphony performances of the set feature was to rework some of the Horowitz material while maintain- only the Overture, the Intermezzo, the Nocturne, the Scherzo and the Wedding ing Liszt’s original form and filling in the gaps with my own March. In addition to the orchestral score, Mendelssohn also wrote transcriptions ideas. Voilà! a true hybrid! for solo piano of three works from the piece: Scherzo, Nocturne, and Wedding March. The Russian pianist-composer Sergei Rachmaninoff later wrote his own So we can happily allow Fitz-Gerald the last word and accept the piece as Mendelssohn, Liszt, Horowitz, and he have imagined it and re-imagined it since arrangement of the Scherzo. 1842. Liszt knew Mendelssohn’s score very well, having conducted it with his 2009 © James E. Frazier - 14 - - 15 - Mr. Fitz-Gerald’s concerts have frequently been recorded for local, national Kevin Fitz-GeralD and international radio and television networks in Canada, USA, South Amer- ica, France, Japan and Australia. His CD recordings of chamber works can be ij found on the Summit, Quatro Corde, AFCM, Yarlung and GM Records labels. This Ivory Classics CD is his first solo piano release. Canadian pianist, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, enjoys a versatile performing career In constant demand as a chamber musician, he has collaborated with in- as recitalist, orchestra soloist and chamber musician. His performances have ternationally renowned artists such as Hagai Shaham, Patrick Gallois, Midori, garnered international acclaim and he has been recognized for his “hypnotically Stephen Isserlis, Anne Akiko Meyers, Richard Stolzman, Alan Civil, Camilla powerful and precise” pianism and “dynamic and distinguished” interpreta- Wicks, Eudice Shapiro, Milton Thomas, Karen Tuttle, Donald McInnes, Ronald tions. His concert tours and performances have taken place in major con- Leonard, the Bartok, St. Petersburg and St. Lawrence String Quartets. For many cert halls, universities and concert organizations throughout the United States, years he was studio pianist in summer programs for many leading artist teach- Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, Mexico, South America, the Mediter- ers of our time including William Primrose, Lillian Fuchs, Zara Nelsova, Janos ranean and the Caribbean. Notable venues include Carnegie Recital Hall (New Starker, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Zoltan Szekely, Lorand Fenyves and Marcel Moyse. York), The Mormon Tabernacle (Utah), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Ange- He regularly performs two-piano and four-hand recitals with Bernadene Blaha les), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Roy Thompson Hall (Toronto), Place des appearing at prestigious festivals, conventions, music teacher’s symposiums and Arts (Montreal), Izumi Hall (Osaka), Suntori Hall (Tokyo), National Gallery concert venues throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. (Kingston) and Town Hall (Melbourne). He has appeared with several Ca- The Blaha/Fitz-Gerald Duo has performed extensively throughout Canada un- nadian and American orchestras including the Toronto Symphony, Montreal der the auspices of the “Piano Six” program, the Canada Council Touring Office Symphony, Canadian Chamber Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, Calgary Phil- and the “Cross Country Classics” program. harmonic, Los Angeles Camerata, Utah Chamber Orchestra and the Mormon Mr.Fitz-Gerald also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, present- Tabernacle Orchestra at Temple Square. Recent orchestral performances have ing master classes and lecture-symposiums throughout the world. His students included concerti by Dvorak, Mozart, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, Ra- have been prize winners in many major piano and chamber music competi- chmaninoff, Stravinsky, Berg and Poulenc. tions including the Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Vilna Inter-

- 16 - - 17 - national Piano Competition, IBLA International Piano Competition, American CREDITS Orff-Schullwerke International Competition, ARD International Piano Compe- tition, the Music Teacher's National Association national competition, LA Liszt Recorded at The Banff Centre, Canada December 18, 2007 International Piano Competition, Jean Francaix International Competition, Ca- nadian National Music Competitions and the Colman National Chamber Music Producer: Theresa Leonard Recording Engineer: John DS Adams Competition. Today his students can be found winning competitions, perform- ing, recording and teaching at many of the finest conservatories and universities Mastered using the SADiE High Resolution digital workstation throughout the world. Executive Producer: Michael Rolland Davis In addition to his position as Professor of Piano Performance and Collabora- tive Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, Mr. Fitz-Gerald Mastering Engineer: Ed Thompson is also a regular visiting artist/teacher at the Banff School of Fine Arts, a frequent guest master class teacher at the Colburn School for the Performing Arts in Los Steinway Piano Angeles, as well as visiting faculty at many national and international music This recording was made possible through the support of festivals and institutions throughout North America, South America, Asia and Jason Subotky and The Ivory Classics Foundation Australia. Liner Notes: James E. Frazier Born in Kelowna, British Columbia, Mr. Fitz-Gerald was a full scholarship student at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, The Banff Centre School of Fine Design: Samskara, Inc. Arts and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto where his principal teach- ers were Marek Jablonski, Robin Wood and Alma Brock-Smith. A winner of To place an order or to be included on our mailing list: several prestigious competitions, grants and awards, he has also worked exten- Ivory Classics® • P.O. Box 5108 • Palm Springs, CA 92263 sively with Menahem Pressler, John Perry, Gyorgy Sebok and Leon Fleisher. Phone: 614-286-3695 [email protected] Please visit our website: www.IvoryClassics.com

- 18 - - 19 - FRANZ Liszt ij Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Pianist

Années de Pèlerinage Deuxième Année, Italie (S161/R10b) 1 Après une Lecture du Dante – Fantasia quasi Sonata...... 14:10

Chopin-Liszt - Six Chants Polonais (S480/R145) 2 Mädchens Wunsch (The Maidens Wish) Op. 74, No. 1...... 3:10 3 Frühling (Spring) Op. 74, No. 2...... 2:09 4 Das Ringlein (The Ring) Op. 74, No. 14...... 1:24 5 Bacchanal (Merrymaking) Op. 74, No. 4...... 1:44 6 Mein Freuden (My Joys) Op. 74, No. 12...... 3:20 7 Die Heimkehr (Homeward) Op. 74, No. 15...... 1:25

8 Sonata in B minor (S178/R21)...... 26:24

MENDELSSOHN - LISZT - HOROWITZ - FITZ-GERALD 9 Wedding March and Variations from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’...... 7:46

Total Time: 62:01