Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum; Via Crucis

1. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Psallite: Alte
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

2. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) O Heilige Nacht
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

3. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Die Hirten an Der Krippe (The Shepherds at the Manger)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

4. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Adest e Fideles:Gleichsam als Marsch der heiligen drei Könige
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

5. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Scherzoso: Man zundet die Kerzen des Baumes an Lettle
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

6. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Carillon (Chimes)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

7. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Schlummerlied
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

8. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Altes Provenzalisches
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

9. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Abendglocken (Evening Bells)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

10. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Ehemals! (Old Times)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

11. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Ungraisch ((Hungarian)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

12. Weihnachtsbaum, for piano, S. 186 (LW A267) Polnisch (Polish)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

13. Christus ist geboren: Nato e Cristo Redentor (Weinachtslied), for piano, S. 502 (LW A227)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

14. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Vexilla Regis
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

15. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station I: Jésus est Condamné à Mort
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

16. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station II:Jésus est Chargé de Sa Croix
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

17. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station III:Jésus Tombe Pour la Première Fois
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

18. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station IV:Jésus Rencontre Sa Très Sainte Mère
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

19. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station V: Simon le Cyréné Aide Jésus à Porter sa Croix
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

20. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station VI :Sancta Veronica
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

21. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station VII: Jésus Tombe Pour la Seconde Fois
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

22. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station VIII: Les Femmes de Jérusalem
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

23. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station IX:Jésus Tombe une Troisième Fois
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

24. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station X:Jésus est Dépouillé de Ses Vêtements
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

25. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station XI:Jésus est Attaché à la Croix
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

26. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station XII:Jésus Meurt sur la Croix
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

27. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station XIII:Jésus est Déposé de la Croix
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

28. Via Crucis (Les 14 stations de la croix), for piano, S. 504a (LW A287) Station XIV:Jésus est Mis dans le Sépulcre
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

29. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Crux Ave Benedicta
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

30. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Jesu Christe: die fünf Wunden
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

31. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Meine Seele erhebt den Hern (Der Kirchensegen, Psalm 67)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

32. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Nun danket alle Gott
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

33. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Nun ruhen all Wälder
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

34. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

35. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) O Lamm Gottes (Am Karfreitag)
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

36. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) O Traurigkeit
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

37. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Vexilla Regis
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

38. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Was Gott tut, das ist Wohlgetan
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

39. Chorales (12), for piano (Zwölf alte deutsche gestliche), S. 50 (LW A286a) Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten?
Composed by Franz Liszt
with Leslie Howard

Customer Reviews:

Bargain-priced invitation into Liszt's Musical World.......2003-07-19

Leslie Howard's complete recording of Liszt's Piano Music is surely one of the great musical feats of all time, but not many people would have the desire or time to listen to the whole set. So it is a great thrill that Hyperion has made a 2 disk sampler set available for the rest of us!
It is beautifully packaged, competitively priced and includes interesting notes about Liszt and the works included by the performer himself.

Mr Howard has recorded 145 solo piano CDs, which includes the 95 CDs which make up the complete Liszt piano CDs.

The set includes many well-known pieces, as well as some interesting ones you may not be familiar with.

Highly recommended.

The best of Howard's Liszt.......2002-11-11

This CD, while fulfilling the intent of covering every aspect of Liszt's piano music, also covers all of Leslie Howard's Liszt interpretations and pianistic style. Howard is one of my favorite pianists, and his best playing by far is on his recordings of the Liszt transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies, which are not included here. However, anyone who wants to get into Liszt should buy this CD before they do anything else. It really is all-encompassing.

Average customer rating:

Liszt the Devout
Liszt for the holidays

Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum; Via Crucis

Manufacturer: Hyperion UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
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Liszt Transcriptions of Berlioz, Chopin, Saint-Saëns
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Liszt: Pieces from Christus and St. Elisabeth; Polonaises de St. Stanislaus; Salve Polonia

ASIN: B000002ZMX
Release Date: 1993-11-16

Customer Reviews:

Liszt the Devout.......2007-06-26

Volume 8 in Hyperion's Complete Piano Music of Liszt is somewhat of an anomaly. The presence of Liszt's Christmas Tree suite, a restrained collection of pieces composed for his granddaughter, and Liszt's own solo piano versions of his Chorales is not so strange. It's the inclusion of the awe-inspiring experimental choral work, the Via Crucis, which makes this recording a bipolar one. The contrast in both substance and mood between the Christmas Tree and Via Crucis should come as a shock when listening. As haunting and authentically religious as the choral version of Via Crucis is, this dark and dissonant work becomes doubly visceral in the piano's timbre.

But first the happy stuff. Liszt's Christmas Tree suite is an amiable and tantalizing collection of pieces. About half of these are based on famous Christmas carols. Liszt's treatment of these famous melodies is tasteful and a pure joy to hear. It wouldn't hurt radio stations or concerts to plays these pieces during the Christmas season once in a while; they are accessible, brilliant and totally evocative of the Holidays. Not all of these are mere paraphrases or works based on Christmas tunes, however. Liszt has also written his own original compositions and all of them are engaging. The Little Scherzo for "Lighting the Tree" and the Carillon or "Chimes" are whimsical and sweet. "Evening Bells" and especially "Old Times," apparently "a nostalgic remembrance of the first meeting between Liszt and Princess [Carolyne] Wittgenstein," are marvelous pieces of Romantic tenderness and melancholy. The most surprising gem of this suite is the unreserved "Polish" piece, marked by rapid dance rhythms and virtuosic surges of chromatic octaves; Liszt's granddaughter, Daniela, (Hans von Bulow's daughter) must have been a daredevil at the piano if she could play this!

Although the Weihnachtslied and Chorales make their appearance here as piano versions, they are not interesting enough to garner any important commentary, especially when a Liszt masterpiece, Via Crucis, has yet to be discussed. Liszt's Via Crucis is one of his most avant-garde and utterly incredible music experiments. Liszt's decision to write music to the Crucifixion of Jesus is daring enough. But his choice of mood and effect, completely morose and raw, is so explicit that the music sounds like nothing from the 19th century. Not surprisingly, Via Crucis "was rejected by a prominent firm of publishers of religious music... and was not in fact performed or published till more than forty years after [Liszt's] death." Typical of his late period, Liszt's exploration of darkness, dissonances, and pictorial effects presage all of impressionism and 20th century music.

From the violent and jarring first Station, "Jesus is condemned to death" to the bleak and terrible sounding Second Station "Jesus is made to carry his cross," Liszt creates a terrifying atmosphere of agony and grief. Additionally, I have yet to hear a better illustration of horrible pain and sorrow than found in all three Stations about Jesus falling while carrying the cross. According to Howard, "The eighth Station, The women of Jerusalem, is one of the most idiomatic musical descriptions of weeping in the whole literature." The three Stations depicting Jesus' deprivation of clothing, the nailing to the Cross, and his death are harrowing, brutal, but absolutely beautiful. Those new to this music will find some of the most unnerving and profound musical ideas from Liszt's pen. And those familiar with this work can expect the piano version to exhibit as much expressive power as the choral version. Humphrey Searle makes the following assertion about Via Crucis, that while the nature of the work is avant-garde, "the result is not a mere experiment, but a very deeply felt and moving work." I couldn't agree more.

Bottom line: Although this Volume contains the lovely Christmas Tree suite, it is with the world-premiere recording of the piano version of Via Crucis in mind that I give this Hyperion release 5 stars. This piano version of Via Crucis is easily on par with R.W. Venezia, Unstern Sinistre Disastro, and the La Lugubre Gondolas, Liszt's blackest works.

Liszt for the holidays.......1999-09-17

I wasn't familiar with any of this music upon purchasing it, but it doesn't matter. Again, Liszt touches upon emotions other composers seemed uncomfortable expressing, or weren't aware of. Masterful playing by Leslie Howard.