If you're picking & choosing
Yes, the 5th is excellent. And Scherbakov is over the top on the 6th! You'll enjoy it. I find the 9th disappointing. More later...
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Most insightful!
This series is a revelation. After all, Beethoven himself composed his symphonies on the piano, before orchestrating them. And even though it is Liszt's "reverse engineering", the spirit and essence of these symphonies was masterfully preserved! Moreover, some aspects of the music, subdued by the orchestral versions, come back to life in the piano version. It is no wonder that Liszt has been regarded as THE master of transcriptions.
Great stuff!!!
If you love piano music and Beethoven symphonies, then this will be well worth your while! These are not piano reductions, but transcriptions by Liszt, a master of his art. Try the 9th, you'll love it.
X-ray insight
Listening to the Liszt transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies is a little like looking at an x-ray of the works with which we are all so familiar. Without the orchestration, without the instrumental colour, attention is necessarily focussed all the more sharply on the musical structure. The task of the transcriber is to keep the essentials and to mirror on the piano, so far as it is possible, the entire tonal palette of the orchestra. This Liszt does superbly, and he is ably aided and abetted by Scherbakov. Every time I listen to these transcriptions I hear something I hadn't noticed before, and it enhances my listening to regular versions when I return to them.
Album: LISZT: Beethoven Symphonies No 5
I’ve purchased most of them, but I’ll only mention the 5th for now since I’ve been listening to it non-stop since purchasing it. Scherbakov’s interpretation of the 5th is unbelievable! I’ve listened to Glenn Gould’s version for years and took a chance on Scherbakov. Am I glad I did! I know the 5th note-by-note and Scherbakov is brilliant! His interpretation of the 5th is a MUST HAVE!
