Alicia de Larrocha’s magisterial, sonorous, even coruscating performance of Liszt’s B minor Sonata is here preceded by altogether more genteel repertoire from the 19th century – pairs of pieces by Grieg and Mendelssohn. A rarity – making its first appearance on CD internationally – is Grieg’s only solo piano sonata which was written in eleven days at Rungsted, near Copenhagen, in June 1865 and published a year later. It is rarely performed or recorded today. Likewise, Mendelssohn’s A minor Caprice, dizzyingly despatched by Larrocha, is unfairly neglected. The lovely ‘Notturno’, on the other hand, is one of Grieg’s best-known miniatures and likewise, Mendelssohn’s ‘Variations sérieuses’, one of his best-known solo piano pieces.
EDVARD GRIEG
Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7*
Lyric Piece, Op. 54 No. 4: Notturno
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
Variations sérieuses, Op. 54
Caprice in A minor, Op. 33 No. 1
FRANZ LISZT
Piano Sonata in B minor, S. 178
Alicia de Larrocha, piano
*FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELEASE ON CD
Recording Producer: Michael Woolcock
Recording Engineers: Colin Moorfoot, Tryggvi Tryggvason (Grieg, Mendelssohn); Philip Wade (Liszt)
Recording Location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, 2–4 February 1970 (Grieg, Mendelssohn), 20–25 June 1975 (Liszt)
‘musicianship and real keyboard bite [in the Mendelssohn] … She plays the popular Grieg Nocturne with much impressionistic colour and sensitivity’ Gramophone, June 1970
‘[In the Liszt Sonata] she is illuminating often on matters of weight and touch (for example the rapid arpeggios in the first Agitato bit, also later); the fugue begins with splendid lightness and attack (the piano sound just about ideal here) … The recording is … indispensable listening for devotees of superior pianism’ Gramophone, April 1978