Search - Franz Liszt, George Enescu, Johannes Brahms :: Hungarian Rhapsodies 1 & 4

The joy of claptrap, without blushing

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It obviously gave Leonard Bernstein immense pleasure to perform light classics and even Lisztian claptrap with utmost vivacity and enthusiasm. That's certainly true here in this out-of-print collection that features Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies #1 and 4 (but not #2, of Bugs Bunny fame, which was left for Stokowski to burn down). Bernstein is to the manner born in this kind of, well, junk, and he performs it without a blush, never resorting to schmaltz or bombast (this is one occasion when the performance is better than the music).



The rest of the program, consisting of Enesu's Romanian Rhapsody #1, two Brahms Hungarian Dances, and Les Preludes, is jsut as convincing--the intensely felt Les Preludes couldn't be better, really--and everything is in good analog sound (my copy gives no recording dates, but presumably these readings are from the Sixties, at the height of Bernstein's popularity with the NY Phil.) Five stars for anyone who loves Bernstein's way with Liszt."