An original contribution to the Verdi and Wagner celebrations of 2013: the complete Verdi and Wagner transcriptions by Liszt!

In a time when there was no recorded sound it was customary to promote the works of a composer by playing transcriptions for solo piano of well known works or excerpts. Super virtuoso Franz Liszt was a champion in this genre, his transcriptions are an art form in themselves, his complex and highly virtuosic piano writing enhanced rather than diminished the impact of the original work.

These recordings offer the complete transcriptions of two of Liszt’s heroes: Verdi and Wagner, featuring the famous Rigoletto paraphrase, the Duetto from Aida, the Spinnnerlied from Der Fliegende Holländer, the notorious Tannhäuser Overture (one of the most difficult pieces ever written) and the moving Isoldes Liebestod.

Played with authority and conviction by Michele Campanella, one of Italy’s foremost Liszt specialists, on a 1892 Steinway piano, lending a sense of authenticity to the performance.

Works Liszt: Aida Di Verdi - Danza Sacra e Duetto Finale S436 Liszt: Am silen Herd - song from Richard Wagner's "Meistersinger", S448 Liszt: From the music of Eduard Lassen on Hebbel's Nibelungen and Goethe's Faust, S496 (1878/9) Liszt: From Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, S446 Liszt: Ballad from The Flying Dutchman S441 Liszt: Concert Paraphrase on Rigoletto, p.434 after Verdi's opera Liszt: guests move into the Wartburg S445 / 1 Liszt: Elsa’s Bridal Procession (from Lohengrin), S445, No.2 Liszt: Ernani - Première paraphrase de concert S431a Liszt: Solemn March to the Holy Grail from Parsifal S450 Liszt: Finale de "Don Carlos" de Verdi - Coro di festa e marcia funebre, S435 Liszt: Isolde's Liebestod (after Wagner), S447 Liszt: Messa di Requiem: Agnus Dei (after Verdi), S437 Liszt: Miserere du Trovatore, S433 Liszt: O you, my lovely evening star - recitative and romance from Tannhäuser S444 Liszt: Overture to R Wagner's Tannhäuser S442 Liszt: Fantasy piece on motifs from Rienzi (Wagner), p. 439 Liszt: Réminiscences de Simone Boccanegra, p.438 Liszt: Salve Maria de l'opéra de Verdi "Jerusalem", S431ii Liszt: Spinnerlied from The Flying Dutchman S440 Liszt: Stucke (2) from Tannhauser and Lohengrin, S445 / R278 Liszt: Valhalla from The Ring of the Nibelung S449