Kenneth Hamilton Plays Liszt: Volume 2 Salon and Stage

The second volume of Kenneth Hamilton’s survey of Franz Liszt’s piano music is entitled Salon and Stage. Volume 1, Death and Transfiguration, was reviewed here. It is important to explain Kenneth Hamilton’s ethos in approaching this music. The record company’s webpage states that “[he] has sought out Liszt’s oft-ignored recommendations on their interpretation and studied the reminiscences and recordings of his students. He has, in effect, tried to think like a Liszt pupil, and to immerse himself in a performance tradition that goes well beyond the printed text.”

In the liner notes, Kenneth Hamilton elaborates:” If…all the scores of 19^th century opera and song were to vanish…then the arrangements made by Franz Liszt would still preserve some of their finest passages.”  These scores balance originality as well as creativity. They “effectively constitute original works in their own right.” 

The contents of this CD can be grouped under various headings: Wagner, Schubert, Verdi, and then the rest, including Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Gounod, and Eduard Lassen.

The Overture to Tannhäuser, S442 balances a “straight forward” pianistic transcription of the score, supplemented with a couple of cadenzas. The Song to the Evening Star, S444 has a “languidly chromatic” coda, which provides a dreamy conclusion. Liszt wrote to Wagner that “As to the former, I believe that it will meet with few executants capable of mastering its technical difficulties, but the scene of the Abendstern should be within the reach of second-class pianists…[!]” The next bit of Wagner is Am stillen Herd from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, S448: this is not a straight “arrangement” but more of an improvisation. It is heart-rendingly beautiful. Equally gorgeous is the wayward Spinning Song from The Flying Dutchman, S440, with its “sparklingly iridescent” ending.

There are nine Soirées de Vienne, S427 (1846-52), which are arrangements of Schubert’s eminently playable waltzes. The sixth has long been a favourite of pianists (and concertgoers). Liszt subjected it to various revisions. The present recording is Hamilton’s conflation of the 1879 and the 1882 versions. Lasting just over ten minutes it is a sheer joy. The other Schubert arrangement here is the Ständchen: Leise flehen meine Lieder (My songs fly softly through the night to you), S.560/7a. It is the fourth number of Schubert’s Schwanengesang.

Eduard Lassen (1830-1904) was a Danish/Belgian composer who succeeded Liszt as Kapellmeister at Weimar. Barely recalled today, his Six Lieder, op.6 was dedicated to the composer. Liszt made concert-arrangements of two of these songs, “Ich weil’ in tiefer Einsamkeit,” S495 and “Löse, Himmel, meine Seele,” S494/2. The liner notes mix the catalogue numbers up here. Hamilton explains that in this version, Liszt made “a subtle, improvisatory transition between the songs, marrying them musically together.” These rarities deserve to be better known: they are quite lovely. Liszt’s arrangement of Mendelssohn’s On the Wings of Song is a potboiler.

There are several arrangements of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas. First up is the popular Rigoletto Paraphrase de concert, S434. This was written between 1855 and 1859. It was based on the famous quartet, “Bella figlia dell'amore" (Act III) between Rigoletto, Gilda, the Duke and Maddalena. The Aida Paraphrase, S436 – Danza sacra e Duetto finale, was produced sometime before 1879. The liner notes sum up this work as “encompassing the priests’ hymn to their god Phtha, the temple dances and the opera’s unforgettable final duet.” But Liszt has been extremely creative in the last section where he presents “an ecstatic Wagnerian love-death for which we will search the opera’s original score in vain.”

The final Verdi offering here is the Ernani Paraphrase, S432 is based on the King of Spain’s aria O Sommo Carlo and the chorus at Charlemagne’s tomb. The original music is presented in complex pianistic terms complete with a dramatic coda and intricate cadenzas.

The Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, S429 is full of sparkle and wit and us a souped-up version of the Tchaikovsky’s original well-known melody. Less well known in its original incarnation is Hans von Bülow’s Dante Sonnet, “Tanto gentile e tanto onesta” (How kind and honest my lady looks), S479. Liszt’s arrangement is seductive in its straightforward repristinating of the tune. It is a truly romantic piece in the “love and affection” meaning of the word.

Liszt wrote two Illustrations from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s posthumous opera L’Africaine. The first, S415/1, is heard on this CD. The liner notes explain that this is a fantasia on the Prière de Matelots from Act 3 rather than a direct transcription. It is by turns stormy and meditative.

Clara Schumann’s “Geheimes Flüstern hier und dort” (Secret Whispers here and there) is the tenth number of Zehn Lieder von Robert und Clara Schumann, S569. It is a short, restrained transcription of the third song from Schumann’s Six Lieder from Jucunde, op. 23 to a pantheistic poem by Hermann Rollett (1819–1904).

Charles Gounod is represented here by two transcriptions: the Hymn to St Cecilia, S491, and the Waltz from Faust, S407. The former is a “luxuriously re-upholstered [hymn to the saint] which is nearly twice the length of Gounod’s unassuming original, and of considerably greater sophistication.” Whilst the second is a reworking of the original Waltz in sonata form, complete with an interpolated middle section reminiscent of the moment that Faust met Gretchen. I have never been a fan of Gounod, but in the hands of Liszt he becomes a giant!

Finally, it is good to have some “self-transcriptions” – the three Liebestraumes, S541. Originally songs setting texts by Ludwig Uhland and Ferdinand Freiligrath, there were transformed into “luscious nocturnes” by Liszt in 1850. The first and second are rarely performed, the third is ubiquitous. Little more need be said.

The booklet is superlative. Kenneth Hamilton provides an essay length introduction to the repertoire. This is hardly surprising as he accomplished his doctoral dissertation, The Opera Fantasias, and Transcriptions of Franz Liszt; A Critical Study, in 1989. The gatefold cover shows a stage design by Heinrich Maximilian Bruckner for Act 3 of Wagner’s Tannhauser. I was delighted to see that the track-listing in the booklet includes the “S” numbers (given to each work by the English composer and scholar, Humphrey Searle): this allows the listener to track down exactly what version of these pieces are being played. I would have liked to see the dates given in the track listing.

This double-CD is an album to explore slowly. I assessed it by working through the “arrangements” by composer. However, the actual batting order does give a varied and satisfying recital.

I have not had an opportunity to contrast and compare Kenneth Hamilton’s performance of these works from Salon and Stage with the two main contenders for this repertoire. I have occasionally dipped into Leslie Howard’s magisterial Liszt: Complete Piano Music on the Hyperion label and the massive multi-artist series on Naxos (at least sixty volumes). Equally, listeners will be aware that much of this repertoire has been recorded by many other pianists. From my point of view, my reaction to Hamilton’s superb playing is an appreciation of the hugely diverse emotional impact created this music, and to gain a sense of the numinous which should always be present in Liszt’s music. One must not overlook the sheer technical wizardry of these performances. In all these cases, Kenneth Hamilton satisfies my expectations.

I understand that Volume 3 will include Book 3 of Années de pèlerinage and associated pieces such as À la Chapelle Sixtine. A further volume is in planning entitled Demonic and Divine and may incorporate the Mephisto Waltzes, the St Francis Legends, etc.

Track Listings:

Franz Liszt (1811-86)
Contents
CD 1
1. Richard Wagner (1813-83)/Franz Liszt: Overture to Tannhäuser, S442 (1848)
2. Richard Wagner / Franz Liszt: “Song to the Evening Star” from Tannhäuser, S444 (1849)
3. Franz Schubert (1797-1828)/Franz Liszt: Soirée de Vienne, no.6 (revised version), S427/6ii/6b (1879/83)
4. Franz Schubert/Franz Liszt: “Leise flehen meine Lieder” (with late cadenza) (S560/7a) (1880)
5. Richard Wagner/Franz Liszt: “Am stillen Herd” from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, S448 (1871)
6. Eduard Lassen (1830-1904)/Franz Liszt: “Ich weil’ in tiefer Einsamkeit” S495 (1872)
7. Eduard Lassen / Franz Liszt: “Löse, Himmel, meine Seele” S494/2 (1872)
8. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47)/Franz Liszt: “Auf Flügeln des Gesanges” S547/1 (1840)
9. Richard Wagner/Franz Liszt: “Spinning Song” from Der fliegende Holländer S440 (1860)
10. Charles Gounod (1818-93)/Franz Liszt: Hymn to St Cecilia S491(1866)
CD 2
1. Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-93)/Franz Liszt: Polonaise from Eugene Onegin S429 (1879)
2. Hans von Bülow (1830-94)/Franz Liszt: Dante’s Sonnet S479 (1874)
3. Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)/Franz Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase S434 (1885-59?)
4. Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)/Franz Liszt: “Illustration” no.1 from L’Africaine S415/1 (1865)
5. Giuseppe Verdi/Franz Liszt: Aida Paraphrase S436 (1876?)
6. Franz Liszt: Liebesträume no.1, “Hohe Liebe” S541/1 (1850)
7. Franz Liszt: Liebesträume no.2, “Seliger Tod” S541/2 (1850)
8. Franz Liszt: Liebesträume no.3, “O Lieb” S541/3 (1850)
9. Giuseppe Verdi/Franz Liszt: Ernani Paraphrase S432 (1859)
10. Clara Schumann (1819-96)/Franz Liszt: “Geheimes Flüstern hier und dort” S569/10 (1874)
11. Charles Gounod/Franz Liszt: Waltz from Faust S407 (1861)

Kenneth Hamilton (piano)
rec. 18 July 2019, 22 August 2020, 5-6 February 2022, Cardiff University School of Music, Wales.
Prima Facie PFCD 210/211