Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who has made a close study of historical Liszt recordings, says that there are passages where one feels that Liszt might not have played the music the same way each time. Liszt was, after all, a matinee idol first and foremost and one who cultivated an image of unpredictable genius. Some pianists stress the monumental nature of the Piano Sonata in B minor; some emphasize the experimental nature of the composer's music, its chromaticism, and its jagged, irregular surfaces. Grosvenor, though, is ...
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Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who has made a close study of historical Liszt recordings, says that there are passages where one feels that Liszt might not have played the music the same way each time. Liszt was, after all, a matinee idol first and foremost and one who cultivated an image of unpredictable genius. Some pianists stress the monumental nature of the Piano Sonata in B minor; some emphasize the experimental nature of the composer's music, its chromaticism, and its jagged, irregular surfaces. Grosvenor, though, is one of a comparative few to enter into its quasi- (or maybe not-so-quasi-) improvisatory qualities. Consider first and foremost the Sonata, where Grosvenor leads the audience into thickets where one is unsure which path will be followed next, only to resolve everything in the end in a way that makes it seem inevitable. The rest of the program follows logically from this beginning. The Années de Pèlerinage suggest the narrative quality of the sonnets that furnish their program....
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