Ulf Wallin, Roland Pontinen - Franz Liszt: Works for Violin and Piano (2015)

This is the second disc of Liszt’s violin-and-piano works to come my way within a few months. In the May issue I welcomed the selection played by Voytek Proniewicz and Wojciech Waleczek, lively, polished performances and well recorded. Three of their pieces crop up again on Wallin and Pöntinen’s programme: the Grand Duo concertant, Second Elegy and Epithalam. There is little to choose between the two but the newcomers have the edge in the Grand Duo, which emerges even more clearly as a light-hearted, even frivolous set of virtuoso variations intended to entertain. Recorded in a more airy acoustic than the Naxos pair, they revel in its playfulness, helped not a little by Pöntinen’s wonderful leggiero touch and their response to the ping-pong tarantella finale.

The only other bravura work is Liszt’s arrangement of his Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody (the violin part was prepared in collaboration with Joseph Joachim, though the booklet doesn’t tell you). This comes off splendidly, though I shan’t discard a performance on a third disc of Liszt violin-and-piano works that I managed to overlook in my Naxos review: Chris Nicholls and Jonathan Ayerst (Hyperion), recorded back in 1994, open their disc with the Rhapsody and also include the Grand Duo and Epithalam, as well as the Duo Sonata (based on a Chopin mazurka) which opened the Naxos disc. Again, it’s a close-run thing but I prefer Hyperion’s sound, with Nicholls and Ayerst in performances that have all the zest and spontaneity of a live concert. As for the remainder of the (unduplicated) BIS programme, there’s the charming and somewhat sentimental Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, Romance oubliée and the sombre violin-and-piano version of La lugubre gondola. So the repertoire choice is down to your preferences; but between the three discs you have fine recordings of all Liszt’s major works in this form.

Review by Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone

CDs are sometimes like buses - you wait ages for one and then two come along almost simultaneously. Liszt’s music for violin and piano is pretty obscure and no doubt lovers of Liszt and chamber music were delighted by the release recently of a recital by Voytek Proniewicz (violin) and Wojciech Waleczek (piano) on Naxos. That disc was given by a favourable review by my colleague Philip R. Buttall.

Now, a few months later BIS release a recital, with some repetition of works, by the highly regarded duo of Wallin and Pöntinen. Their previous recordings, which have included Schoenberg, Schumann and Reger, have been very favourably reviewed on this site.

This excellently executed recital commences with the highly impressive and virtustic Grand duo concertant using a theme by violinist Charles-Philippe Lafont (1781-1839). Lafont once came second to Paganini in a competition but died prematurely in an accident in 1839 when a carriage transporting him overturned. This is a splendid opener and full of fun and Hungarian fire. I can imagine it would make an unusual if slightly lengthy encore to a violin sonata concert.

Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth is a lovely romantic, yet wistful piece about an island in the Rhine that Liszt nearly bought. It was the scene of his last holiday with Marie d’Agoult and their three children in 1843 before the couple split up. This work, written forty years after the event, recalls this happy time with a strain of regret. The piece is probably better known for cello and piano and has been reviewed in this form several times on this site. I will certainly be tracking down a recording although I must emphasize the empathy achieved here by Wallin and the echo by Pöntinen.

Epithalam, like the first piece common to the Naxos recital, was written for the wedding of violinist Eduard Reményi (1828-1898). I should think Mr and Mrs Reményi would have been delighted especially if it was played as it is here. The liner-notes, including a lengthy piece on Liszt by Ulf Wallin, are very informative but do not say if Reményi played the premiere or whether Liszt accompanied him. Reményi was to have been the first soloist of Liszt’s Violin Concerto but it was either not written or lost.

Rapsodie hongroise XII illustrates Liszt’s mastery of this medium. This is not a straight transcription of the piano version. The notes use the words “impassioned” and this is very apt with real emotion in evidence as well as delicacy. The playing is simply superb and the renowned top-rate BIS recording quality captures the sound perfectly. On a first-class disc this is one of the standouts.

Elegie No.2 is one of a pair and is dedicated to Liszt’s first biographer Lina Ramann. I did wonder why the first Elegie, present on the Naxos disc wasn’t included. There would have been plenty of room. The first part “dolcissimo amoroso” is gentle and reticent before becoming more exciting. It then reverts to the more peaceful nature of the start.

Romance oubliée has an interesting history. It was originally a song “O pourquois done” written in 1843 but this version owes influences from “Canto religioso” in the second movement of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy; the composers were great friends. Like the song, this is a mournful piece and is here played with great feeling.

La lugubre gondola was originally written for piano, later for violin or cello and piano. When Liszt met his son-in-law Richard Wagner he had a premonition of his death six weeks later. Wagner called Liszt’s works “budding madness” which is interesting considering his own oeuvre. Looking up “lugubre”, I found definitions of doleful, gloomy, mournful and macabre which all seem apt for this piece which has the air of a dream of a coming tragic event. The full emotion of the foretold occasion is played with great sympathy sadly bringing this wonderful disk to a close.

This has been a superb collection to review, one of the best ever and I welcome it very warmly. The music is top class and I write this as one who is familiar only with the well-known Liszt pieces. The playing, recording and notes are also excellent and is another fine achievement by these artists. The result is that I want to hear more of this repertoire and that must surely be the final accolade.

Review by David R. Dunsmore, MusicWeb-International

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 13. October 2015, 21:53

Ulf Wallin, Roland Pöntinen / Liszt - Works for Violin and Piano

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:32.23 | 0 | 15922
2 | 3:32.23 | 1:58.72 | 15923 | 24844
3 | 5:31.20 | 1:41.24 | 24845 | 32443
4 | 7:12.44 | 2:02.47 | 32444 | 41640
5 | 9:15.16 | 3:27.24 | 41641 | 57189
6 | 12:42.40 | 1:51.71 | 57190 | 65585
7 | 14:34.36 | 1:52.28 | 65586 | 74013
8 | 16:26.64 | 6:51.27 | 74014 | 104865
9 | 23:18.16 | 4:34.31 | 104866 | 125446
10 | 27:52.47 | 12:17.16 | 125447 | 180737
11 | 40:09.63 | 4:55.74 | 180738 | 202936
12 | 45:05.62 | 4:26.70 | 202937 | 222956
13 | 49:32.57 | 10:29.26 | 222957 | 270157


Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\temp\BIS-SACD-2085 - Liszt - Works for Violin and Piano\Liszt - Works for Violin and Piano.wav

Peak level 95.4 %
Extraction speed 2.2 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E75890EF
Copy CRC E75890EF
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database
Track 11 not present in database
Track 12 not present in database
Track 13 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

==== Log checksum 522DDF81FE7316656816E69E72A5E26CA8637324722F7A73A2908585FCD1602E ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-07-17 23:53:01

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Ulf Wallin, Roland Pöntinen / Liszt - Works for Violin and Piano
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -3.78 dB -23.48 dB 3:32 01-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Lento assai
DR15 -0.40 dB -24.29 dB 1:59 02-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Bar 72 [Theme]
DR15 -1.86 dB -23.05 dB 1:41 03-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Var. I. Un poco piu animato
DR14 -3.10 dB -22.63 dB 2:03 04-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Var. II
DR15 -1.32 dB -22.42 dB 3:27 05-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Var. III. Allegretto pastorale
DR13 -2.30 dB -20.81 dB 1:52 06-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Var. IV. Tarantella
DR13 -0.71 dB -18.59 dB 1:52 07-Grand Duo concertant, S 128 - Finale. Animato marziale
DR16 -5.25 dB -27.37 dB 6:51 08-Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, S 382bis
DR13 -3.06 dB -23.92 dB 4:34 09-Epithalam, S 129
DR14 -0.78 dB -20.69 dB 12:17 10-Rapsodie hongroise XII, S 379a
DR14 -4.09 dB -24.41 dB 4:56 11-Zweite Elegie, S 131bis
DR14 -6.18 dB -28.02 dB 4:27 12-Romance oubliée, S 132
DR17 -1.41 dB -25.66 dB 10:29 13-La lugubre gondola, S 134bis
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 13
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 575 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================