Liszt Inspections – Marino Formenti
Program (2 CD) (Excerpts on the Kairos website) :
Franz Liszt – Ungarisches Volkslied Nr. 5, S. 245
Friedrich Cerha – Slowakische Erinnerungen aus der Kindheit Nr. 20
Franz Liszt – Fünf Klavierstücke – II. Lento assai, S. 192
György Ligeti – …waiting for Susan…
Franz Liszt – Bagatelle sans tonalité (Bagatelle ohne Tonart), S.216a
György Ligeti – Touches Bloquées (from Études pour piano, First Book)
Gérard Pesson – Speech of Clouds (from Vexierbilder II)
Franz Liszt – Michael Mosonyi (from Historische Ungarische Bildnisse), S.205
Wolfgang Rihm – Klavierstück Nr. 6 (Bagatellen)
Franz Liszt – Funérailles (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses), S.173
Wolfgang Rihm – Klavierstück Nr. 7
Franz Liszt II Penseroso (from Années de Pèlerinage), S.161
Galina Ustvolskaya – Sonata No.6 
Franz Liszt – Au lac de Wallenstadt (from Années de Pèlerinage I: Suisse), S.160
Luciano Berio – Wasserklavier(from 6 encores for piano)
Franz Liszt – Wiegenlied, S.198
Luciano Berio – Brin (from 6 encores for piano)
Morton Feldman – Nature Piece No.4
Franz Liszt – En rêve: Nocturne, S.207
György Ligeti – En suspens (from Études pour piano, Second Book)
Tristan Murail – Cloches d’adieu, et un sourire
Franz Liszt – Cloches du Soir (from Weihnachtsbaum), S.186
John Adams – China Gates
Franz Liszt – In festo transfiguationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Natürliche Dauern Nr.5 (from Klang)
Franz Liszt – Resignazione, S.187a
Salvatore Sciarrino – Polveri laterali
Franz Liszt – O Heilige Nacht (from Weihnachtsbaum), S.186
Morton Feldman – Piano Piece 1964
So a very nice program seeking to show Liszt’s modernity by putting next few frequently played works with contemporary compositions, the program that the pianist (and conductor, in both cases with an impressive repertoire) Marino Formenti, program justified by a very good text. He gave already this kind of program in recitals – cf. article from the NY Times last year.
Most striking parts: the sounding elegance of G. Pesson’s piece, the 2 longest works are of course written by Wolfgang Rihm… with a kind of beethovennian passion and framing the Funérailles. The “super funeral” by Galina Ustvolskaya, the impression that the piece by Berio is a continuation of the Wallenstadt Lake, the amazing Nature piece by Feldmann, more like an echo of Pas sur la neige, or the now famous “Cloches d’adieu, et un sourire” by T. Murail, whose recent piano concerto made elsewhere tribute to Liszt, the enigmatic extract from Klange by Stockhausen, an aphorism by Sciarrino, etc.
The only ‘false note’: Adams’s piece bored me after 45 “…
We can only praise pianist equally at home in modern pieces than in Liszt (the most ‘modern’ Funérailles heard so far)? A revelation: In festo Domini nostri Jesu Christi transfiguationis very much “Moonlight Sonata”.
Liszt seems to watch all these “young” collegues quietly …
