Search - Franz Liszt, Alfred Brendel :: Liszt: Sonata in B minor, Funérailles; etc.

Brendel tends to dissect Liszt, but he does a masterful job

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"To play Liszt analytically sounds like a contradiciton, but Alfred Brendel has won wide praise for doing just that. He has always felt an affinity for Liszt's music, going back to the early Sixties when I first heard him. There are virtues to taming the composer's excesses, and if overly romanticized Liszt bothers you, Brendel's way with the B minor Sonata should appeal. Here in 1991 he's in full command of the notes, and his phrasing throughout is sober and thoughtful. But let's face it, thoughtful Liszt is like a thoughtful Road Runner cartoon -- Brendel's restraint goes against the grain.



He seems more at home in the gnomic Funerailles, one of Liszt's austere late works where a probing intelligence is a great help in the act of deciphering. In all, I liked Brendel here more than I usually do, and there's room for more than one way in the B minor Sonata, but with Horowitz, Richter, Pollini, and Zimerman burning down the house, I don't need a portable heater."