Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Mazeppa, Les Preludes

On this CD:

1. Hungarian Rhapsody, for orchestra No. 1 in F minor (after piano No. 14), S. 359/1 (LW G21/1)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

2. Hungarian Rhapsody, for orchestra No. 4 in D minor (after piano No. 2), S. 359/4 (LW G21/4)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

3. Hungarian Rhapsody, for orchestra No. 3 in D major (after piano No. 6), S. 359/3 (LW G21/3)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

4. Hungarian Rhapsody, for orchestra No. 2 in C-sharp minor (after piano No. 12), S. 359/2 (LW G21/2)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

5. Hungarian Rhapsody, for orchestra No. 5 in C-sharp minor (after piano No. 5), S.359/5 (LW G21/5)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

6. Hungarian Rhapsody (Carnival in Pest), for orchestra No. 6 in D major (after piano No. 9), S. 359/6 (LW G21/6)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

7. Les Préludes, symphonic poem for orchestra, S. 97 (LW G3)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

8. Mazeppa, symphonic poem for orchestra, S. 100 (LW G7)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

9. Hunnenschlacht, symphonic poem for orchestra, S. 105 (LW G17)
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

10. Mephisto Waltz, for orchestra No. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke; Episoden No. 2), S. 110/2 (LW G16/2) No. 2, The Dance in the Village Inn, Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Conducted by Hermann Scherchen

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This collection of Scherchen's stereo Liszt is, like virtually everything this idiosyncratic conductor did, an electrifying experience. The Hungarian Rhapsodies are staples of orchestral pop concerts and encores, but Scherchen approaches them as profound dramatic tone poems. The opening of the first rhapsody, with its steady tread leading to a wistfully nostalgic theme accompanied by grave brass in the background, immediately lets you know that the conductor will wring everything he can out of the piece. When the full orchestra picks up the theme, it's stated as a declamatory pronouncement, a harbinger of drama to follow. When the dance kicks in about half-way through, he brings a lilting lightness that's all the more unexpected from what has come before. One could multiply such examples many times throughout these two discs as Scherchen turns Mazeppa into a heroic narrative rather than the bombastic, splashy orchestral showpiece of lesser conductors. Les Préludes has the necessary weight and inner spark, and even Battle of the Huns, a distinctly lesser work, comes off as more than listenable. Here's music-making from the gut! --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Les Preludes (Symphonic Poem No. 3)
Mazeppa (Symphonic Poem No. 6)
Hungarian Rhapsodies No. 2: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14
Rakoczy March
Hungarian Battle March

Customer Reviews:

Liszt: Les Préludes; Mazeppa; Hungarian Rhapsodies 2, 3 & 14; Etc........2007-05-13

FLASH GORDON & MING THE MERCILESS

BRAVO!.......2007-05-07

The CD is extraordinary. I have a special fondness to Les Preludes since my daughter played it several years ago at Interlochen Music Camp near
Traverse City, MI.

Liszt grandioso..........2004-12-02

Un Cd con una seleccion imperdible del genio de Liszt, desde el sinigual Les Preludes y Mazeppa, hasta las maravillosas y geniales rapsodias hungaras un deleite con grandes directores y sus orquestas.
El famosisimo Rosza se encarga de la primera obra "Les preludes" y junto a la pomposa Hollywood Bowl Orchestra nos hace regocijar de luminosidad y sentimentalismo, al final del Cd se hace cargo de una belleza increible y mas popular en la version para piano y orquesta, la rapsodia hungara N°14, sencillamente genial. Masur en una interpretacion soberbia, una de mis favoritas no entrega un Mazeppa que nos deja sin aire, vibrante, sutil, portentosa.
Willi Boskovsky junto a la formidable Filarmonica de Londres se hace cargo de dos Rapsodia Hungaras la N°2 y N°3, bien interpretadas y con brillo especial. Sigue Boskovsky con dos obras del tipo patriotico cercana a la 1812 de Tchaikovsky, la marcha Rakovszy es muy popular y en esta version suena excelente, la marcha batalla hungara es la pieza mas diferente del conjunto, un poco apoteosica pero llena del estilo y efectismo de Liszt.
Una seleccion incomparable en versiones sin igual.

SUPERB!!.......1999-02-21

This was Liszt at his best. And at the price, I couldn't believe what I got. I thought I was going to get some chopped up versions of him, but what was in store was a treat. Les Preludes is absolutely fantastic. This CD is the best value you can buy!! It's definitely the best I ever bought!!

The bargain of CD's on Amazon's list........1998-10-13

To hear 60 minutes of some of Liszt's most popular orchestral music is an experience not to miss.

Tracks:

'Two Episodes From Lenau's Faust': Mephisto Waltz
Les Preludes: Symphonic Poem No. 3
Fantasia On Hungarian Folk Melodies
Hungarian Rhapsody No.5

Tracks:

Symphonic Poem No. 6: Mazeppa
Hungarian Rhapsody No.2
Symphonic Poem No. 2: Tasso. Lamento e Trionfo
Hungarian Rhapsody No.4

Customer Reviews:

Nice Liszt Collection With One True Gem.......2003-12-19

This "2CD" DG collection of the Orchestral Works of Franz Liszt is quite enjoyable, if not essential. I personally prefer larger, more comprehensive sets of Liszt's Tone Poems, and other pieces for Orchestra, by conductors Haitink and Masur (see my review of the new EMI boxed-set of the latter). However, Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic offer the best selection of the pianist/composer's works aside from his Concertos on this set. Three of these exact same performances ("Les Preludes," "Mazeppa" and "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 4") also appear on a mid-line DG "Originals" title, but this is the set to get if you want Karajan performing Liszt. On this two-fer you get eight selections to only three on the aforementioned mid-priced single disc. And if you were thinking about his later digital remakes instead, these glorious stereo accounts from the 1960s and 70s exceed them by far (earlier is generally better with Karajan in my opinion). But for me the star of this set is not Herbie but pianist Shura Cherkassky, one of the last great "romantic" pianists. An enormously popular figure at the dawn of the LP era, Cherkassky has slipped into obscurity half a century later. To the best of my knowledge, his only other vintage title currently available is a DG "Originals" disc coupling his late mono performances of the 1st & 2nd Tchaikovsky Piano Concertos (see my review). His 1961 stereo performance of "Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies" captured here is worth the price of this set alone.

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Mazeppa, Les Preludes

Average customer rating:

Mostly fine, exciting conducting, but sloppy execution
Scherchen's At His Best Here In The Tone Poems
Explosively Colorful Performances

Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies, Mazeppa, Les Preludes
Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005RIH3
Release Date: 2001-11-13

Tracks:

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 1
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 4
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6

Tracks:

Les Preludes
Mazeppa
Hunnenschlacht
Mephisto Waltz No. 1

Amazon.com

This collection of Scherchen's stereo Liszt is, like virtually everything this idiosyncratic conductor did, an electrifying experience. The Hungarian Rhapsodies are staples of orchestral pop concerts and encores, but Scherchen approaches them as profound dramatic tone poems. The opening of the first rhapsody, with its steady tread leading to a wistfully nostalgic theme accompanied by grave brass in the background, immediately lets you know that the conductor will wring everything he can out of the piece. When the full orchestra picks up the theme, it's stated as a declamatory pronouncement, a harbinger of drama to follow. When the dance kicks in about half-way through, he brings a lilting lightness that's all the more unexpected from what has come before. One could multiply such examples many times throughout these two discs as Scherchen turns Mazeppa into a heroic narrative rather than the bombastic, splashy orchestral showpiece of lesser conductors. Les Préludes has the necessary weight and inner spark, and even Battle of the Huns, a distinctly lesser work, comes off as more than listenable. Here's music-making from the gut! --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

Mostly fine, exciting conducting, but sloppy execution.......2005-10-10

I can think of three inspiring conductors--Igor Markevitch, Jascha Horenstein, and Scherchen--whose careers were relgeated to second- and third-rate orchestras. All had shots at major orchestras from time to time as guest conductors, and this spilled over into occasional recording dates. But far too often one has to filter out or listen through sloppy, thin, ill-tuned, or even incompetent execution.

In this case Scherchen was more fortunate. Technically, the Vienna State Opera Orchestra is the same as the Vienna Philharmonic--they take this name when they play in the Staatsoper. So it's baffling why the musicians are so spotty here. They sound reasonably involved, and Scherchen's conducting is galvanic at times, but when you listen to "Les Preludes," for example, it's painfully clear that this orchestra couldn't match a good student orchestra at Julliard or the semi-amateur Boston Philaharmonia.

In the Viennese system there are three or four levels of seniority, and these could be entry-level musicians. But I suspect that in the lean decade after WW II, the Vienna Phil. licensed out its name to Westminster and Vox, while the actual orchestra personnel were pickups.

In any event, Scherchen is a natural conductor with excitable tendencies, and he does his best to turn a lot of claptrap into serious music while not shortchanging us on the fun of hearing these stumbling warhorses rally to the call one last time. I wouldn't say, however, that Scherchen is blazingly inspirational. He's just in good form, which is good enough for me in these works.

Scherchen's At His Best Here In The Tone Poems.......2005-05-14

DG/Westminster has a done a fine job on the transfers here - they are fully equal to my old stereo Westminster LPs. This set is self-recommending to Scherchenphiles, as it contains the conductor's only recorded accounts of the Liszt tone poems and Mephisto Waltz #1.

My affection for "Les Preludes" goes back to the early 1950's when, as a child, I got much of my exposure to classical music on Saturday mornings by watching TV. Then, as now, most cartoons featured classical music selections as background music (e.g., Grieg's Peer Gynt, Rossini's storm music from Barber of Seville, etc.). Often shown were the old 1930's "Flash Gordon" serials, where Buster Crabbe and his colleagues Dale Arden & Dr. Zarkoff went off to the planet Mongo to battle against the Merciless Ming. Their spaceship always took off and landed - invariably in a slow spiral - to the music of Les Preludes.

I have managed to hear nearly every recorded performance of what is still my favorite Liszt tone poem. Among those I no longer own are the incredibly tepid Haitink, the boring Masur, and the typically dispassionate Karajan. Even my Furtwangler LP version is disappointingly tame. Knappertsbusch is just too stately. There is an excellent 1947 mono account by Stokowski and "His" Symphony Orchestra on Cala CD 0522. This Scherchen account strikes me as one of the two best in stereo - the other is the better-played Silvestri/Philharmonia (in his 10 disc "Collection" set on Disky - see my review). Scherchen scores in the more assertive brass sections, while the Romanian is more poetic in the lyrical moments. Better than either is the splendid 1940 Weingartner/London Symphony (on his volume in IMG's "Great Conductors" series). But, for me, the very best of ALL Les Preludes recordings is the incredibly impassioned 1929 Mengelberg/Concertgebouw (Andante), one of the greatest performances of ANYTHING ever recorded.

"Mazeppa" is pretty bombastic any way you cut it - it's not really one of Liszt's better works. Scherchen's is my favorite stereo account, while Golovanov (IMG) is my preferred mono version. In the "Battle of the Huns," Scherchen gives the finest reading I have heard. In the Mephisto Waltz, he shares top stereo billing with Paray (Mercury) and the exuberant Rene Leibowitz on Chesky's CD "The German Album" (which also contains a great account of Schumann's "Rhenish" Symphony). But if I could have only one recording, it would be the sensitive 1940 reading by Liszt pupil Weingartner (with his Les Preludes on IMG).

Scherchen's Six Hungarian Rhapsodies here are more problematical. I regard Scherchen as unquestionably one of the last century's finest conductors, and I own (LP & CD) nearly everything he ever recorded. But truth to tell, many of his records were made with distinctly second-rate "pick-up" ensembles. Frankly, a lot of the playing here by the so-called "Vienna State Opera Orchestra" is pretty untidy. The interpretations are marvelous, but Scherchen had a much better orchestra to work with in his earlier mono recording with Beecham's Royal Philharmonic (called the "Philharmonic Symphony of London" for contractual reasons). These were originally on superb Westminster "Lab Series" LPs, which equaled the fabled Mercury "living presence" LP issues for their exceptional recorded sound. Those mono accounts were, to my ears, the finest ever recorded: Scherchen's musicians dig into the gypsy rhythms with unrivalled brio, and in #3 the pungent tones of a cimbalon (not used in the Vienna version) add some wonderfully tangy colorations to the music. A private CD transfer - nearly as good as the original LPs - was available recently on the internet from an outfit called Haydn House. If you are a Szell or Reiner fan, you really need to hear Scherchen in front of a top-tier orchestra like the Royal Philharmonic - he's as good as they ever were.

Recommended for the tone poems and the Mephisto Waltz.

Explosively Colorful Performances.......2002-04-16

These classic (true stereo) recordings of Liszt tone poems and rhapsodies were made in Vienna by Westminster in the late 1950s and are now reissued by Deutsche Grammophon. They sound better than ever in DG's exemplary CD transfers. Hermann Scherchen has come to be remembered chiefly as a champion of twentieth century music, beginning with Mahler; it's good to be reminded how well he conducted the 19th century repertory. Scherchen had a real love for music as dramatic and colorful as this, and ever since their original Lp issue these performances have been recognized as something special. Mostly, Scherchen's achievement is due to his sincere conviction that Liszt's music is better than its reputation. Too often, conductors turn in wishy-washy Liszt performances because they mistrust Liszt's sound and try to refine away the vulgarity. Not Scherchen. Where others heard vulgarity and held their noses, Scherchen (like Bartok) appreciated the elemental vitality of Liszt's music and reveled in its theatricality. You will not hear more dramatic or vibrant Liszt performances than these. So shell out a few bucks, and prepare yourself for an over-the-top, Great Romantic 'Pops' treat. Even "Les Preludes" and the Second Hungarian Rhapsody come up sounding fresh and newly minted!

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