Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Unrivalled Volume 2
Michael Kaykov (piano)
rec. 2023, Skillman Music, New York, USA
Odradek ODRCD455 [59]

Michael Kaykov’s first volume of Liszt: Unrivalled had as its centrepiece a swift and cogent performance of the Piano Sonata in B minor (review). It was accompanied by less familiar piano solo pieces, and most of this volume is devoted to such repertoire. Even a Hungarian Rhapsody is No.19, not the famous No.2, and a Mephisto Waltz is No.3 rather than No.1. The Waltz anticipates the asperities of the harmonic world of later composers like Scriabin. Kaykov’s note draws attention to these two works: “It’s fascinating to compare [them] with their predecessors written decades earlier. Liszt kept up the habit of tirelessly perfecting his works and many of these late compositions exist in multiple versions, not all published.”

The Hungarian Rhapsody No.19 from 1885 is an example of Liszt’s very late style. It draws upon musical material by his pupil Kornel Ábrányi, Cárdás nobles, which in turn had deployed existing music. As usual, Liszt transformed it all into an original piece. Kaykov plays with an affecting expressive freedom in the opening, and with verve in the demanding faster music of the later part, up to the stirring coda. The introspection of the opening may account for the time of 9:34 against Leslie Howard’s 9:04 in the Hyperion edition of Liszt’s complete solo piano music. 

The Mephisto Waltz No.3, may not make the formidable technical demands of No.1, but has its own fast open octaves, semiquaver arpeggios, repeated notes and  interlocking chords. Kaykov plays with skill and musicality, both essential to do justice to Liszt. Continuing with “devilish” inspirations, the Mephisto Polka from 1882-1883 is a set of variations, some of the improvisatory in feeling, and apparently challenging to play with or without the more difficult options in the score. Kaykov again relishes Liszt’s diabolism and wit.

The Csárdás macabre of 1881-1882 has repeated and comfortless bare fifths. Its percussive qualities presage Bartók, and Liszt himself asked on his own copy of the score: “May one write, or listen to, such a thing?” He might have asked the same of the futuristically entitled Bagatelle sans tonalité (initially named Mephisto Waltz No.4), where tonality is stretched to its limits if not yet abandoned. Kaykov makes a strong case for all these pieces as they represent a Liszt pointing a way to the harmonic future, but are still in themselves expressive in new ways.

The programme includes two 1879 arrangements from Liszt’s opera paraphrases. The Sarabande und Chaconne aus dem Singspiel Almira is from the 19-years-old Handel’s first opera. Liszt’s piece includes his own variations on Handel’s Sarabande. Tchaikovsky’s opera is the source of Polonaise from Eugene Onegin. Both works blend Liszt’s earlier virtuoso style with his later futuristic harmonic manner, and Kaykov again performs them admirably. He is an artist with the temperament, as well as the technique, for Liszt. The disc has good sound, truthful and atmospheric, and the booklet notes are helpful, if brief. As with the first volume, the numerous photographs of Kaykov in black tie might have been made way for fuller notes on these unfamiliar works.

Let us leave the pianist with the last words, for they sum up the appeal of this disc and the nature of its claim on collectors: “I selected and learned the works […] on this album in the hope that the listener discovers new facets of the composer’s genius […] These lesser-played compositions allow for greater interpretive freedom and I thoroughly enjoyed recording them.” That enjoyment is certainly captured for the rest of us to admire.

Roy Westbrook

Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free

Contents
Csárdás macabre, S.224
Impromptu, S.191
Hungarian Rhapsody No 19 in D minor, S.244
Trauervorspiel und Trauermarsch, S.206
Mephisto Polka, S.217
In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi, S.188
Toccata, S.197a
Mephisto Waltz No 3, S.216
Sarabande und Chaconne aus dem Singspiel Almira, S.181
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise from Eugene Onegin, S.429
Bagatelle sans tonalité, S.216a