Les Préludes, probably Franz Liszt’s best-known and most
popular symphonic poem has often been recorded. The score has
a preface beginning – “What else is our life but a series of
preludes to that unknown Hymn, the first and solemn note of
which is intoned by Death? — Love is the glowing dawn of all
existence; but what is the fate where the first delights of
happiness are not interrupted by some storm ...” Lovers of Late
Romanticism will revel in this unashamedly OTT indulgence –
full of hedonistic sentimentality and thrills and what a towering
climax. This Conlon reading is grand and imposing but rather
underwhelming in its slower and quieter stretches. That said,
the Rotterdam Orchestra’s playing, especially in its string
section is quite luscious. For really edge-of-the-seat excitement,
Karajan is hard to beat and the bargain Naxos reading of the
Katowice Radio Orchestra impresses mightily too.
The atmospheric Two Episodes from Lenau’s Faust was inspired
by the Austrian poet Lenau’s version of the Faust legend. Lenau
was the pseudonym of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch a rather melancholy
romantic. It is probably best to consider the two pieces in
the chronological order of the story. In Lenau’s version Faust
and Mephistopheles interrupt a wedding feast at an inn. Faust
dances with the bride, seduces her and carries her off into
the woods to spend her wedding night in wild debauchery. At
the end, they are damned for eternity for their immorality.
Above the ending, Liszt quotes Lenau’s last line – “and they
drowned in an ocean of their lust”. Dance at the Village
Inn (Mephisto Waltz No. 1) is much the better known of the
two episodes. It has been recorded a number of times notably
by Leopold Stokowski on a BBC mono issue - BBCL 4059-2 and by
Fritz Reiner with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on RCA. Conlon’s
version is crisp and thrilling and manically witty enough but
it just falls short of Reiner’s tense and sexy reading. The
Procession by Night is the much less well-known
piece of the two. It is a beautiful nocturnal pastoral evocation
with extraordinarily beautiful writing for strings and woodwinds.
One can imagine the flight to the woods by the couple to the
sounds of nature. It is intense and passionate too with a hint
of supernatural menace and church bells. A note of piety serves
as a contrast and perhaps as a warning. Conlon is on fine form
here.
The most interesting work in this programme is Liszt’s Two
Legends – worth acquiring this disc for them alone. They
are among his less familiar works for orchestra. Some mystery
continues to surround them. Those who know Liszt’s piano music
will recognize them as orchestral versions of Liszt’s Two
Legends for piano. At around the age of 50, Liszt suffered
personal tragedy: two of his children died suddenly - Daniel
at 20 and Blandine aged 27. He resigned his music director post
at Weimar and found consolation in the Catholic Church. In 1861
he moved to Rome and in 1863 entered the Oratory of the Madonna
del Rosario at Monte Mario. He took minor orders in the Church;
he was known as Abbé Liszt. Much of Liszt’s music from this
time onwards was based on religious themes. Not so well-known
these days, these works include: oratorios and settings of the
mass, requiem, psalms, and many other religious texts. Liszt
composed these two pieces in the year he entered the Oratory.
The Two Legends: St. Francis of Assisi: Sermon to
the Birds and St. Francis of Paola Walking on the Waves,
were inspired by events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi:
The music exists in two versions - one for orchestra, the other
for piano. It is not certain which came first.
The composer claimed that the first Legend, St
Francis of Assisi’s sermon to the birds was inspired by
a passage from the Little Flowers of St. Francis: “He
lifted up his eyes and saw the trees which stood by the wayside
filled with a countless multitude of birds; at which he marvelled,
and said to his companions: ‘Wait a little for me in the road,
and I will go and preach to my little brothers the birds.’ And
he went into the field, and began to preach to the birds that
were on the ground; and forthwith those which were in the trees
came around him, and not one moved during the whole sermon;
nor would they fly away until the Saint had given them his blessing.”
Liszt uses a small orchestra comprising strings, woodwind and
harp to create an impression of this story; the instruments
in high register full of trills, runs and grace notes suggesting
the trilling and fluttering of the little birds. Conversely
the ‘Sermon’ episode uses a deeper register to indicate the
solemnity of St Francis’s message. A climax is reached in passionate
piety.
The second legend, St Francis of Paola walking on water,
is a briefer but more dramatic tone poem requiring quite
a large brass section. It was inspired by the story of the Saint
walking over the sea to cross the Straits of Messina by using
his cape and rod to emulate a sailing boat. The piece begins
quietly with a mounting noble theme for the Saint in octaves
before the music swells even further to suggest the swirling
and pitching and tossing of the waves. A huge chordal climax
thunders out the opening theme.
The serene and gentle St Francis of Assisi’s sermon to the
birds music, so evocative of the story is given an exquisite
beatific reading by Conlon and he invests great dignity and
fervour in his reading of St Francis of Paola walking on
water.
The standard documentation for this Apex reissue is dismal.
It is a mere four-page leaflet with just the works’ titles and
no notes whatsoever.
Good performances but in the case of Les Préludes there
is major competition around – even at budget prices. However
this CD is worth investigating for the gem that is the Two
Legends
Ian Lace
Rotterdam Philharmonisch Orkest/James Conlon 
