Liszt - Années de Pèlerinage, Troisième Année

The Guardian 80

(Hyperion)
Cédric Tiberghien’s selection of later works is thoughtful and he never flaunts his total control of the challenges

Even in an exceptionally gifted generation of French pianists, Cédric Tiberghien stands out for the breadth of his musical sympathies. His solo repertory ranges from Bach to Boulez, and his recordings reflect that span, yet this is Tiberghien’s first foray into Liszt on record. His selection is typically thoughtful, avoiding the barnstorming, high-Romantic pieces and concentrating instead on music that Liszt composed in the last decade or so of his life.

The seven numbers that make up the third book of the Années de Pèlerinage were mostly composed in the 1870s (only the penultimate Marche Funèbre is earlier), and are very different from the pieces in the two previous volumes, which had appeared two decades earlier. Their mood is more contemplative, and their language more forward-looking, sometimes – as in the most famous of the set, Les Jeux d’Eau à la Villa d’Este – tending towards the world of Debussy and Ravel, sometimes even hinting at the expressionism of the Second Viennese School.