Search - Franz Liszt, Krystian Zimerman :: Liszt: Sonate in B minor

A perfect recording

Anh Tran | 09/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Zimerman has studied piano construction and design "that is the only way I can attain the sound I have in mind" and always travels with his own grand piano. He is equally careful with recordings. It took ten years for Zimerman to make a recording of Liszt's B minor Sonata that satisfied him. This CD is a must for everyone !!!"

Technique: A+; Interpretation: B-

John Grabowski | USA | 09/12/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a very good performance of the Liszt Sonata that could have been a *great* performance of the Liszt Sonata. Zimmie supposedly spent ten years preparing this work. I believe him, just as I believe him when he says he listened to something like 70 recordings of the Brahms 1st Piano Concerto before making his own recording. In both cases I think he'd have done better to listen to fewer recordings and just attack the piece from his *gut* more. This performance is great technically, with the pianist showing his superbly subtle command of dynamics--some of the shadings are just amazingly nuanced. Listen, for example, to how he handles the first lyrical section, at around six minutes in: gorgeous shading! Another highlight comes at 16:50--such liquid tone. (Why couldn't he have played his Debussy this way??) Another highlight: at 22:00 coming out of a 100-mile-per-hour tear, he slams the brakes, and the deceleration is like a Lamborghini under the control of Mario Andretti, only to roar back to 100 mph again. It's all very thrilling, and let's not get too cerebral here: the Liszt Sonata was in large part a show-off vehicle for the pianist's technique, and Zims does not disappoint in that department. There are times he just explodes with passion and wild abandon, such as the leadup to the recap at around 21:00--thrilling stuff.



Yet Zimerman's weakness, to my ear, is in his interpretation. He over-thinks, over-interprets. So much here is too calculated, and I can't help but wonder if this happens after you've been "preparing" the piece for ten years. There are moments, such as the statement of one of the motifs at 22:40, that are so de-li-ber-ate as to make me wince; it's like an actor who feels he has to emote every line or a writer who must put every third word in italics. Ditto the famous coda at around 26:25, and some lyrical sections, where he roooolls those chords as if to highlight in glow-in-the-dark orange the piece's Romantic pedigree. At times likes these I feel like Zimerman is pounding the music into us with a mallet because he doesn't trust us as listeners. Interpreters such as Richter (particularly Aldeburgh 1966 live, now sadly out of print), Arrau, Levy (also out of print), and even Yundi Li don't feel this need. For that reason, a very good performance missed on being one for the ages.



The other pieces are beautifully played but suffer from the same over-interpretation. I wish KZ would just let the works breathe more; instead I feel like he's imposing his heavy-handed interpretations on them. Works such as Nuages Gris are very atmospheric, and here he never gets out of the way and lets the music speak.



Still, this is worthwhile to add to your collection if you're a Liszt B minor fan, particularly since the two best performances of this piece (the aforementioned Levy and 1966 Aldeburgh Richter) are out of print. Get this recording, but stay open to other interpretations--and keep hoping for the Richter and Levy to come back in print."