Vallée d’Obermann, the centerpiece of the Swiss Year, has been, at least in recent decades, the most frequently excerpted piece from the cycle. When the bucolic idyll is shattered by Orage, Lortie lets loose this implacable force of nature with phrasing that is so deftly shaped, pedaling so restrained, and dynamics so infinitely calibrated that each gust and cascading torrent seems audible. The mini-triptych within the cycle, Au lac de Wallenstadt, Pastorale, and Au Bord d’une source, is painted in luminous colors, highlighted here and there with an exquisitely inflected tempo rubato. Add to this his unstinting identification with Liszt’s poetic message, and you have all the elements required for an Années de pèlerinage of tremendous freshness and originality.Īmid the Alpine landscapes of Book I, the Swiss Year, Lortie conjures uncluttered vistas and pristine atmosphere with unhurried tempos that give each phrase plenty of breathing room. You get the sense that Lortie has long lived with the entire cycle, coming to know (and love) each of its components equally well. These 26 pieces occupied Liszt for some 46 years and, along with the Sonata, are emblematic of his achievement as a piano composer. Lortie is a richly imaginative musician and a pianist of cultured refinement whose interpretations invariably tend toward understatement. He approaches this summit of romanticism steeped in the music of Liszt (his recording of all the works for piano and orchestra, Chandos 10371, a collaboration during 1999-2000 with George Pehlivanian and the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, is one of the finest).
The new, complete Années de pèlerinage of Louis Lortie, however, is in a class all its own. Predictably, they range from the compelling (Libor Novacek, Années I and II, Landor 290 and 278 André Laplante, Années I, Analekta 29980), to the less good (Michael Korstick, Années I and II, cpo 777485), to the deeply disappointing (Jerome Lowenthal, Années complete, Bridge 9307). There’s been no dearth of Années de pèlerinage recordings over the past year or so. Label/Cat#: Chandos # | Country/Year: Europe 2011 Louis Lortie plays Liszt – The Complete Annees De PelerinageĢ4B/96kHz Stereo FLAC: 2,41 GB | Artwork | Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic
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