Complete Symphonic Poems for Two Pianos II

Liszt, of course, was wonderful at composing and playing reductions of arias from operas, a practice followed by many other composers since then. He is credited with 72 such pieces or "fantasies" as he called them. Unlike other composers who were content to produce variations on famous arias or simply a note for note transcription, Liszt wanted to dazzle his audiences with virtuoso playing above all and a dramatic experience as a close second goal. In short, he produced an entirely new work. His transcriptions of the complete Beethoven symphonies for piano soloist have quite another aim. He simply wanted to show that the piano could substitute for an entire orchestra. Where the effect fails, of course, is in the mighty 9th when the chorus is supposed to make its appearance, so shocking to the original audiences, and so disconcerting here by its absence. In his transcription of Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto, he did not simply assign one piano the soloist's part and the other the orchestra's. Liszt achieved a far better sonic effect by having each player share the parts. If any of you out there knows of a recording of this version, please let me know.Liszt turned to his own music, the "Faust Symphony," in 1856 and composed a version for two pianos, and the result is more satisfactory than that of some of the Beethoven attempts because the original orchestration is not particularly innovative. After composing his twelve tone poems (although he never quite finished tinkering with them), Liszt re-wrote them for dual piano; and these versions have been found only recently by the duo-pianists Georgia and Louise Mangos. Therefore the only available recording of these works (4 to a CD) is a "world premiere" on Cedille label (CDR 90000 014, 024 and 031). Now here we have another excellent chance to test a theory that "the touchstone of the musical worth of an orchestrated piece becomes evident in the piano reduction of that piece." Except for "Les Preludes," these tone poems (Liszt's own coinage, I read) are not all that familiar to most listeners, although most of them are available on several separate recordings. So I used "Les Preludes" as an example and found that while the music, especially the in pastoral sections, was just as beautiful, the more exciting segments make one yearn for the trumpets and snare drums of the original. But this is only to be expected. I heard a 10 minute or so version of "Bolero" for two pianos and the result was quite monotonous without Ravel's masterful variations in the orchestrations. Still I find myself preferring the other 13 tone poems in the piano arrangements because, again, the structure of each segment seemed so much clearer than it does when played by full orchestra. You just might feel the same after hearing the Mangos sisters on these three CDs.