Liszt: 18 songs

Liszt wrote more than 75 songs, all as full of character as his piano and orchestral music. One of his most famous piano pieces, Liebestraum No. 3, originated as the song which opens Brigitte Fassbaender's selection. As she points out in her excellent programme note, there are no limits to what Liszt expected of the voice, and the range of character in the songs is immense, from the epigrammatic Einst, 37 seconds long, to the operatic breadth of Ich möchte hingehen. Fassbaender does indeed expect a lot of her own voice; these days it often sounds as if it would like to take life a bit easier.

Our rating

5

Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:46 pm

COMPOSERS: Liszt
LABELS: Decca
WORKS: 18 songs
PERFORMER: Brigitte Fassbaender; Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 430 512-2 DDD

Liszt wrote more than 75 songs, all as full of character as his piano and orchestral music. One of his most famous piano pieces, Liebestraum No. 3, originated as the song which opens Brigitte Fassbaender's selection. As she points out in her excellent programme note, there are no limits to what Liszt expected of the voice, and the range of character in the songs is immense, from the epigrammatic Einst, 37 seconds long, to the operatic breadth of Ich möchte hingehen. Fassbaender does indeed expect a lot of her own voice; these days it often sounds as if it would like to take life a bit easier. Still, there's no point in singing most of Liszt's songs if you're not willing — in her own words — to give yourself entirely to his fervour. Which she most certainly does. Adrian Jack

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