Liszt: Complete Works for Piano & Orchestra

Beyond the two piano concertos and occasional performances of Totentanz, little is heard of Liszt's music for piano and orchestra, though an interest in the composer sparked by 'complete' sets of his vast output has lately increased attention on this spectacular music. What was already grand or passionate in themes by his predecessors, Liszt magnifies and intensifies in works such as the Fantasia on a theme from Beethoven's 'Ruins of Athens', the Wanderer Fantasie after Schubert and the Grande Fantaisie Symphonique on themes from Berlioz's 'Lelio', demanding the kind of bravura that only the finest of today's pianists, such as Louis Lortie and Nelson Freire, can match up to.

A unique coupling of these works Rare recording of the Piano Concerto No.3, reconstructed from sketches 'Louis Lortie plays all these works with immaculate brio, where necessary tempering bravura with restraint, and makes the best possible case for the music. He is admirably partnered throughout, and the sound and balance are natural and refined.' Gramophone