Don't downrate a CD because of a missing piece

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	• Liszt: Favourite Piano Works Franz Liszt, Jorge Bolet Decca, 1995 average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great selections; technically great but dull performance

I know this pianist Jorge Bolet is supposed to be one of the world's greatest. But I bought this as a replacement set when I temporarily lost my Phillips "Best Of Liszt" set and couldn't live without Liszt. I was sadly disappointed on the selections that overlap. While some of my favorite selections (Liebestraum, Mephisto Waltz) are actually longer here, they simply do not stir my soul as much. The pressure of the notes, the timing, something indefinable just isn't the same in this recording as in the Phillips one. The quality of sound reproduction is fine, the piano-playing is certainly correct and crisp (maybe TOO crisp?), and again, the variety of the pieces chosen is commendable, but I recommend the Phillips 2-disc set over this one. There ARE some very interesting selections of not just Liszt's original works but also some of his arrangements or adaptations of other's works, i.e., the Shubert pieces and La campanella (from Paganini).

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Missing The Famous Hungarian Rhapsody #2

Although the listing at Amazon.com says this CD contains Hungarian Rhapsody #12, A.K.A #2, it does NOT have the famous #2 in C Sharp Minor. It is indeed #12. Since I bought this CD specifically for Hungarian Rhapsody #2 in C Sharp Minor, I was disspointed that it was not included. It is Liszt's most famous song, at least in my opinion. If you are looking for this song, I would suggest Hungarian Rhapsodies Vol. 1, by Jeno Jando.

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Great Liszt compilation

Bolet's finest moments on this two-fer are the Schubert-Liszt transcriptions - you'd almost think 'Who needs a voice?' But he's equally good in the aforementioned Mephisto Waltz, and the operatic journey through Mozart's Don Giovanni.

The cons are here too: Bolet's RCA Liszt recital has better, less cautious versions of Liebestraum, Un sospiro and Funerailles. The Sonata is tremendous overall but in the end I'd rank it just a little below the best - particularly Brendel, Richter and Arrau. Yet all these renditions have great merits - even the ones Bolet surpassed himself. This Liszt compilation is overall very good.

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Bolet is outstanding

There are many Liszt performers, and while Bolet was known to never substitute technical perfection for feeling, there is a great balance to his playing. 'Un Sospiro' is played on the slow side, every melody note can be heard perfectly, while his interpretation and rubato are heart stopping. While I don't agree with his Liebstraum (the honor of greatest playing is held for Cliburn on this piece, if you haven't heard him play it, go buy the CD, now), the lesser played works such as the Elf King transcription more than makes up for it. If you want a technically perfect, clear, sometimes very moving performance of Liszt, Bolet is for you (I prefer him infinitely over Cziffra, although I may be alone on that one). Postscript: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 is NOT No. 2, this is an error on Amazon's part, and also on the other Bolet albums, it is indeed no. 12 and not 2.

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Don't downrate a CD because of a missing piece - please!

This is an excellent representative 2-CD bargin set of Liszt's piano works played by a recognized expert pianist in this repertoire. The other reviewers (i.e. those w/ 5* ratings) have made their points well. What continues to bother me in many of these classical CD reviews is 'downgrading' a CD by several stars, if not more in some cases, because the listener is irked at the lack of a feature that has nothing to do w/ the performance on the recording. Such is the case here - a 3* rating because one piece was mislabelled is ridiculous - rate the music & performance first, please. If there is a problem unrelated to the performance (sound quality, liner notes, etc.), then simply state that in your review. I often look at the overall rating to determine if I even want to consider a classical CD & read the reviews - knocking off a star or two because of petty complaints is not justified.

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