Liszt’s own vast output includes a tremendous quantity of transcriptions. These range from Bach organ works to extracts of Wagner, as well as virtuoso fantasias and ‘paraphrases’ of oepras by Mozart, Verdi and Gounod, among many others. These pieces were the composer’s free reimagining of the existing works, designed to dazzle. But his transferring to the piano of Beethoven’s nine symphonies is entirely different. These accounts are profoundly faithful to the score, prepared with minute attention to matters of instrumental timbre on the one side and suitably pianistic translations of orchestral textures and techniques on the other. This is the second volume of the complete Liszt piano transcriptions of Beethoven’s 9 symphonies, released in five separate issues. The first one featured the Symphonies Nos 1 and 6. This second one contains the Symphony No. 3 (Eroica), 4 tracks, and the 6 Bagatelles Op. 126, 6 tracks. Baldocci is a brilliant young pianist who is making a fine career; he is thought highly of by Martha Argerich, with whom he often appears in concert.
