{"product_id":"brahms-liszt-piano-works","title":"Brahms \u0026 Liszt: Piano Works","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eBRAHMS \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003eVariations on a Theme by Paganini, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003eBook 2. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003ePiano Sonata No. 1 in C. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eLISZT \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eFunérailles. Ave Maria. Sonetto 104 del Petrarca. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12b\"\u003eTarantella \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Grace Francis (pn) \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e QUARTZ 2071 (76:22) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eFrom her booklet photograph, Grace Francis appears to be a slight-framed, self-effacing, rather bookish young lady, an image completely out of character with who she turns into when she sits down at the piano. She has chosen a program of works for this, her debut album, that would strike fear into the heart of a David facing Goliath. These are big works, requiring a pianist not just of great digital dexterity but of real muscle, and Francis arm-wrestles the giant to at least a draw if not an outright win. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eShe was born in East London and attended the Yehudi Menuhin School before studying with Irina Zaritskaya at the Royal College of Music. There she was awarded the Chappell Gold Medal, the highest award for a pianist. Subsequently she won a Wingate scholarship to continue her studies with Martino Tirimo. Francis has made broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 of works including Bartók’s Improvisations on Hungarian Peasant Songs and Liszt’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eHungarian Rhapsody\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e No. 12. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eBrahms’s Paganini Variations were completed in 1863 when he was 30. They display his great mastery of variations, but they were also designed to pay tribute to their namesake’s legendary diabolical technique. Clara Schumann dubbed them \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eHexen Variationen\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, and either wouldn’t or wasn’t up to playing them in public herself. They are wickedly difficult; that Francis plays them accurately and with as much aplomb as she does is a remarkable achievement. What I do find just a bit lacking in her performance is the sheer muscle power brought to them by pianists like Arrau, Thibaudet, Lilya Zilberstein, and of course Earl Wild. A few more hours in the gym lifting weights and Francis will be able to join this illustrious company. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eCompared to other earlier-developing musical prodigies, Brahms, at 20, was barely out of diapers when he published his op. 1 C-Major Piano Sonata in 1853. If anything, the sonata is even more taxing than the Paganini Variations for its length and emotional range. There have been fine recordings of it over the years by Julius Katchen, Sviatoslav Richter, and more recently a fine account by Hardy Rittner, which impressed me in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e 32:5, but Francis holds her own against them and delivers the goods in a powerful and strongly focused reading. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFunérailles \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAve Maria\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e are numbers 7 and 2, respectively, from Liszt’s cycle of 10 piano pieces titled \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eHarmonies poétiques et religieuses. Funérailles\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, which Liszt wrote in response to the 1848 Hungarian Revolution, is the most popular of the pieces. It was a favorite of Horowitz; and Rubinstein, Richter, and dozens of other heavy-hitter keyboard virtuosos performed and recorded it. Francis does well by it, but as in the Paganini Variations, I sense a bit of a loss of heft as the piece works up its head of steam. With the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAve Maria\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e we finally get a respite from the thunder and drums. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eJust as \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFunérailles \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eand the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAve Maria\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e come from a larger collection of pieces, the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eSonetto 104 del Petrarca \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eis the fifth number from Liszt’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eAnnées de pèlerinage II: Italie\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e, composed between 1839 and 1846. Thirteen years later, in 1859, he supplemented the original seven numbers with three more under the heading of \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eVenezi e Napoli\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e. The Tarentella is the third of those added numbers. It’s one of those virtuoso display pieces designed to knock the audience dead, if it doesn’t knock the pianist dead first. No fatalities occur during Francis’s performance. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThis is quite an extraordinary debut disc. As they say, you can’t tell a book by its cover, and from her photo, you would never guess what a dynamo Francis can be at the keyboard. Recommended to anyone who enjoys piano music in the grand romantic tradition played by an artist with grits and real flair. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Jerry Dubins \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Quartz Music","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49707031003416,"sku":"880040207122","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/1686965.jpg?v=1777929849","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/brahms-liszt-piano-works","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}