RECORDING OF THE MONTH     CHOPIN Waltzes and Impromptus Vladimir Feltsman £11 post free World-wide VIVALDI The four seasons London Mozart Players/Juritz £12 post free World-wide BEETHOVEN Symphonies 4 and 5 LSO/Yondani Butt £12 post free World-wide

MusicWeb has suspended the sale of Concert Artists discs until it can be resolved which were actually recorded by Joyce Hatto details

Franz LISZT (1811-1886) The Complete Studies-Volume 2 Three Concert Studies (1848) Il Lamento in A flat La Leggierezza in F minor Un Sospiro in D flat Two Concert Studies (1862/63) Waldesrauschen Gnomenreigen Six Études d’Éxecution Transcendante d’après Paganini Joyce Hatto (piano) Recorded at the Concert Artist Studios November 1998 to January 1999 CONCERT ARTIST/FIDELIO RECORDINGS CACD 9132-2 [56.08]

I reviewed Joyce Hatto’s Douze Études d’exécution transcendante S.139, part of her Liszt series for Concert Artist, and she made a powerful impression. The second volume of the studies confirms those qualities of digital control, architectural sculpting and sensitive musicianship. In Waldesrauschen for instance she seems to me to cleave to a rich Lisztian tradition that reaches back to Lamond. There is no want of fantasy or drama but the accents are crisp, the tempo bracing, direction is impelled through musical argument, pedal use is relatively sparing and there’s a fine sense of arching intensity. It’s certainly the case that she reminds one much more of the Lamond-Bauer school of Liszt playing than do the later recordings of an almost exact contemporary of hers such as Sergio Fiorentino. Those perceptions are sharpened by her equally fluent and fleet Gnomenreigen where her passagework is translucently clear – no fudging of runs for Hatto. Un Sospiro is unusually intimate and withdrawn, quite slow this time with tonal extremes avoided in the interests of concentration and control. As a result the right hand becomes more subservient to the homogeneity of her approach, though there’s no lack of agility and volatile playing in the left hand when occasion demands. This is individual and sensitive playing, with the peaks and troughs of the musical argument perceptively judged. The Paganini Études contain the usual cornucopia of pianistic difficulty rising to the point of knuckle whitening complexity. Hatto has mastered the octave minefield of the E flat as she has La Chasse’s arpeggios. There is a sang froid about her playing that seems not to defy the demands but to absorb them. How many times has a leonine virtuoso tossed off La Campanella with rubato-straining, panache–wielding, jaw-strutting, eyeball-rolling drama – but how often has he controlled the trills with as much graded acuteness and musicality as Hatto? Or indeed implied the quasi-pizzicati of the Theme and Variations with as much natural refinement? These recordings were set down in 1998 and 1999 and are in good, natural sound. They reflect well on Hatto’s sensitive approach to the repertoire. Jonathan Woolf MusicWeb can now offer Concert Artist/Fidelio recordings Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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