Liszt: Orchestral Works

CML call number: CD/CLASSICAL/Liszt
Performers: Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic.
Contents (on two CDs): Mephisto Waltz; Les Préludes; Hungarian Rhapsodies nos. 2, 4, and 5; Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies; Mazeppa; Tasso.
A roundup of recordings made in 1961, 1972, and 1976. The set leads off with the Mephisto Waltz [No. 1], which "tells a Faust story. The hero and his supernatural guide Mephistopheles listen to the dance music at a country inn. When Mephisto himself takes up the fiddle the dance becomes wild and feverish, and at the end, as a nightingale sings, Faust and the innkeeper's daughter vanish into the darkness outside" (from the liner notes by Christopher Headington). Next in sequence is Les Préludes, inspired by a poem of Lamartine. "In his preface to the music Liszt asked: 'What is our life but a series of preludes to that unknown song of which death sounds the first solemn note?' … Melodious and rousing by turns, Les Préludes … deserves its great and lasting popularity."
Released in 1986, new to our collection. Our thanks to the anonymous donor!