LISZT: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca; Après une Lecture de Dante
– fantasia quasi sonata; Gondoliera; Canzone; Tarantella; Fountains of
the Villa d’Este – Luiza Borac, piano – Avie multichannel SACD AV2061,
74:14 ****:
Luiza Borac has come up with a very imaginative theme for her second SACD on Avie. The young Romanian pianist has matched
Schubert’s most exciting piano work with a half dozen semi-programmatic
works by Franz Liszt composed while he was wandering around Europe.
Both composers are prime representatives of the let-it-all-hang-out
Romantic School, though they each demonstrate highly individual
temperaments in their music. Schubert is straightforward and
no-nonsense in his muscular variations on a stirring main theme that
never becomes tiresome. Liszt is more the impressionistic tone and
scene-painter, especially in his spectacular closing impression of the
fountains – which could fit right into a Debussy-Ravel recital with
little problem.
Borac has a strong but sensitive touch and her piano is captured with
great clarity and naturalness in multichannel surround. The perspective
– like most piano recordings – is as though I was leaning over the
crook of the grand piano watching her. Well, hope the music rack is
removed, because as you can see by the cover, watching her would not be
at all unpleasant even though her hands would not be visible. Purchase at ArkivMusic.com
– John Sunier
