Piano sonatas

This+disc+performed+by+Sergei+Edelmann%2C+a+pianist+of+music+maturity+as++well+as+of+splendid+virtuosity%2C+features+two+big+masterpieces+for+solo++piano+by+Listz+and+Schubert%2C+closely+related+each+other.+%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3ELiszt+was+the+supreme+nineteenth-century+master+of+the+piano%2C+and+in+many+of+his+works+pushed+the+technical+and+sonorous+possibilities+of+the+instrument+to+new+extremes.+His+most+important+single+composition+for+solo+piano%2C+and+perhaps+his+greatest+masterpiece%2C+is+the+Sonata+which+he+completed+at+Weimar+in+February+1853.+It+was+published+the+following+year%2C+with+a+dedication+to+Robert+Schumann%2C+who+had+dedicated+his+Fantasy+to+Liszt+some+fifteen+years+earlier.+But+it+was+slow+to+gain+approval%2C+receiving+only+private+performances+%26ndash%3B+including+one+given+to+Richard+Wagner%2C+who+found+it+%26ldquo%3Bbeautiful+beyond+belief%26rdquo%3B+%26ndash%3B+before+it+was+finally+played+in+public+in+Berlin+in+1857+by+Liszt%26rsquo%3Bs+pupil+%28and+later+that+year+his+son-in-law%29+Hans+von+B%26uuml%3Blow.+That+premiere+was+coolly+received%2C+and+for+some+years+after+it+the+work+continued+to+baffle+audiences+and+many+musicians%3B+it+was+not+firmly+accepted+into+the+repertoire+until+well+into+the+twentieth+century.+%3Cbr+%2F%3EThe+main+stumbling-block+to+appreciation+of+the+Sonata+must+have+been+its+unconventional+form.+It+consists+of+a+single+movement+lasting+over+half+an+hour%2C+in+a+greatly+expanded+sonata-form+scheme%2C+incorporating+a+slow+movement+and+a+fugal+scherzo%2C+and+all+derived+from+no+more+than+a+handful+of+themes.+It+is+in+some+ways+the+pianistic+equivalent+of+the+orchestral+symphonic+poem%2C+a+form+of+which+Liszt+was+the+pioneer+%26ndash%3B+with+the+significant+difference+that+it+has+no+stated+programme.+Commentators+have+attempted+to+match+it+to+various+narratives%2C+including+the+legends+of+Faust+and+of+the+Garden+of+Eden.+But+Liszt+was+not+normally+shy+about+attaching+programmes+to+his+music%2C+so+we+must+conclude+that+he+wanted+the+Sonata+to+be+heard+as+an+abstract+composition+%26ndash%3B+or+at+least%2C+in+view+of+its+intense+expressivity%2C+as+a+projection+of+personal+states+of+mind+to+which+a+story-line+cannot+readily+be+attached.+%5B%26hellip%3B..%5D+%3Cbr+%2F%3EOne+of+the+few+models+for+Liszt%26rsquo%3Bs+conflation+of+four+movements+into+a+continuous+and+unified+whole+was+the+Fantasy+in+C+major+by+Schubert%2C+which+Liszt+had+frequently+included+in+his+solo+recitals+in+the+later+1840s%2C+and+had+arranged+for+piano+and+orchestra+in+1851.+The+Fantasy+may+initially+have+appealed+to+him+as+Schubert%26rsquo%3Bs+only+solo+piano+piece+to+have+been+conceived+as+a+virtuoso+showpiece.+%28Schubert+himself+had+only+a+modest+technique%3A+there+is+a+story+that+when+he+attempted+to+play+through+the+Fantasy%2C+he+gave+up%2C+exclaiming+%26ldquo%3BLet+the+devil+himself+play+it%21%26rdquo%3B%29+The+work+was+written+in+November+1822+%26ndash%3B+around+the+same+time+as+the+Unfinished+Symphony+%26ndash%3B+for+a+wealthy+patron+named+Emanuel+Karl+Liebenberg+de+Zsittin%2C+who+had+been+a+pupil+of+the+pianist-composer+Hummel.+Liebenberg+presumably+also+paid+for+the+work%26rsquo%3Bs+publication+in+1823.+%5B%26hellip%3B%26hellip%3B%5D+%3Cbr+%2F%3E%26nbsp%3B%28from+the+CD+linernote+by+Anthony+Burton+%26copy%3B+2011%29%3Cbr+%2F%3E%26nbsp%3B+%3Cbr+%2F%3E%3Cbr+%2F%3E