The Summit of Virtuosity ‘[Dryden] defined as metaphrase the process of converting an author word for word, line by line, from one tongue into another. [...] [The true road] is that of paraphrase “or translation with latitude, where the author is kept in view by the translator, so as never to be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense, and this too is admitted to be amplified, but not altered”.’ (George Steiner, After Babel. Aspects of Language and Translation [London: Oxford University Press, 1975], 254, 255–56.) The definition from George Steiner’s book could hardly be bettered as an introduction to the whole phenomenon of Liszt’s vast output of paraphrases. The second version of the Transcendental Studies provides confirmation of how Liszt tended to contain his abundant gifts as a pianist, which had reached a peak in the first version of the cycle and in the Paganini Studies. His meeting with Paganini and the permanently latent comparison with Chopin (not to mention with minor examples of pianists and composers of concert studies) left a clear and permanent mark on Liszt’s output. Paganini was the inspiration for the way Liszt continually pushes the boundaries of pianistic virtuosity, in a fury of Faustian experimentation. Liszt was an indomitable character, a man of courage and dignity, and into old age his music continued to express that. His tremendous talent as an instrumentalist meant that he could express his feelings in the most elaborate piano writing. Over the course of a long life, Liszt ‘distanced himself’ from his talent as a pianist in favour of musical ideas, pruning his work of ‘impossible’ demands, rationalising them and making them more practical. The Studies are one of the most important cycles in his output, together with the three Années de pèlerinage and the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, and they should be considered a cycle and not a mere collection of technical inventions. Their musical idiom comes out of a long elaboration of ideas that emerged for the first time in 1827: a point of balance between experiments in technique and idiom and the expression of a unique musical personality. The fact that the Transcendental Studies are now within reach of a surprising number of pianists would suggest that there are more and more different ways of approaching them. Yet the technical skill that allows a player to perform the cycle does not automatically imply an understanding of its profound meaning: unless the ethos behind them is completely clear, the Studies risk being an interesting goal only for those who take up the challenge. Consequently, the apparent resolution of their difficulties moves on to the level of expression: what the Studies have to offer is not so much in the area of melodic richness as in rhythm and especially harmony, on one hand connected to the perfect keyboard distribution of a mass of sound, and on the other to inventing new timbres. In these terms, the tremendous originality of the Studies places them among the most open-minded piano works of the 19th century. C Michele Campanella, 2011 Translation: Kenneth Chalmers
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Mariangela Vacatello is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, recognized worldwide for her passion, technical ability and magnificent musicality. She was a finalist and winner of the Internet Audience Award at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, took first prize at the Top of the World International Piano Competition 2009, Laureate Prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in 2007, Second Prize at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in 2005 and Second Prize at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in 1999. Born in Naples, Italy, from a family of musicians, Ms. Vacatello made her official debut at the age of 14, performing Liszt’s First Piano Concerto with the Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra in Milan. Since then, she has given concerts at prestigious venues across Europe and the USA, including the Berlin Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall in London, Salle Cortot in Paris, Mozarteum Auditorium in Salzburg and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. Among her chamber-music collaborations have been partnerships with Rocco Filippini, Gary Hoffman, Toby Hoffman, Timothy Fain, Ilya Grubert, Francesco Tamiati., Ysaye Quartet and Takacs Quartet. She has also worked with conductors including Kryzsztof Penderecki, Gustav Kühn and Andris Nelsons. Ms. Vacatello started playing the piano at the age of four. After graduating from the “Incontri con il Maestro” International Piano Academy in Imola and the Milan Conservatory of Music, in 2008 she completed the Postgraduate Performance Course at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher Elton. She was a recipient of the Sterndale Bennett Scholarship, the MBF (Dame Myra Hess Award), the Tillet Trust, Hattori Foundation, the Solti Foundation and the Academie musicale de Villecroze. www.mariangelavacatello.com
Recording: Lubriano (VT), Italy, 1–3 June 2010 Recording engineer Luca Ricci: l.c.studiomobile@libero.it Sound engineer: Luca Ricci Recording producers: Luca Ricci, Adriano Falcioni Photos: Stephen Eastwood/Lynx Piano: Yamaha CF III SA Concert Grand Piano, prepared by Valerio Sabatini, supplied by Studio 12 Pianoforti, Rome. Warm thanks: Famiglia Persichetti P & C 2011 Brilliant Classics
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