The Harmonies Poètiques
et Réligieuses comprise ten pieces
which play for well over an hour. The
music was composed and variously revised
over a period of more than ten years
through to the early 1850s, when Liszt
gave up his itinerant lifestyle and
settled as Kapellmeister at Weimar.
This was the time when he gave himself
over to final, published versions of
the piano works that had evolved during
the earlier phase of his career. Of
this phenomenon the Harmonies are a
particularly important example.
However, over the years
this music has been indifferently served
in the recorded music catalogues. Some
of the pieces, and arguably the best
ones, have become well known in their
own right, while others have remained
shrouded in obscurity. Therefore we
have every reason to be grateful to
any pianist who decides to bring this
important music before the public.
Unlike the recent recording
by the American pianist David Barela
(DGB Records 29757 28022 - review),
Steven Osborne and Hyperion give us
the complete collection. The performances
are recorded on two CDs at a price that
takes account of the fact that together
they offer only 83 minutes of music.
This is an awkward length, to be sure,
only just above the maximum that can
be accommodated on a single CD.
Steven Osborne has
been particularly well served by the
Hyperion recording. In this music such
things are important, since Liszt so
frequently opts for slow tempos. The
quality of piano sound is therefore
put under extreme scrutiny, but the
Hyperion recording emerges from that
scrutiny with the highest acclaim. The
excellent sound and ambience make a
special impression.
The music is performed
with the utmost conviction. Osborne’s
assured playing achieves miracles of
sonorous satisfaction in terms of piano
sound and textures. In my earlier review
of David Barela’s disc I commented that
‘at extremes of tempo the great artists
can really make their mark, with displays
of dexterity or of concentration, as
the case may be’. Steven Osborne comes
through this trial with aplomb.
There are some very
demanding pieces in this collection,
not least the most famous movement,
Bénédiction de Dieu dans
la solitude. Not only does this feature
the slow tempi favoured in so many of
these pieces, it also requires the utmost
concentration and sense of large-scale
structure; its performing time approaches
twenty minutes. So all praise to Osborne
for not only providing some satisfying
keyboard textures and sonorities but
also giving the music a larger scale
vision and a sense of direction.
The two discs come
in an attractive slim case with full
documentation, including an extended
and perceptive note by Tim Parry, which
deals with specific pieces as well as
the broader view. This is another reason
for placing this Hyperion disc at the
top of the list of recommendations.
Terry Barfoot
Steven Osborne, piano 
