{"product_id":"widmung","title":"Widmung","description":"\u003cb\u003eA first rate recital.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Nino Gvetadze was the recipient of the Second Prize, Audience Prize and Press Prize at the 2008 Liszt Competition and received a prestigious Barletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2010. She appears to have a close affinity with the music of Liszt and for this disc has elected to play the greatest of his piano compositions - the Sonata in B minor - as well as a selection from his other works as her contribution to the bi-centenary year. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  She opens the recital in sparkling form playing the Tenth Hungarian Rhapsody. Difficult scale passages, glissandi, trills and virtuoso passage-work are tossed off with consummate ease. The gypsy idiom is beautifully captured and the virtuosity is dazzling. This is followed by a larger-scale work - the seemingly ubiquitous Second Ballade. This is taken at a brisk speed. I liked this performance better than some of the others I have heard. Gvetadze brings organic unity to a piece that can otherwise come across as flabby and disorganised. There’s some rather compelling and imaginative story-telling at work here. The keyboard gymnastics did not pose any sort of problem to this gifted technician. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Gvetadze’s performance of Liszt’s transcription of  \u003ci\u003eWidmung \u003c\/i\u003eseems slightly understated. I thought she could have made more of its rich sonorities and grand romantic sweep. However, her  \u003ci\u003eGretchen am Spinnrade \u003c\/i\u003ewas hauntingly beautiful articulating a sense of anguish, foreboding and growing disquiet. The mesmeric whirring of the ever-present spinning wheel is wonderfully realised. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  The Sonata is one of the pinnacles of the piano repertoire and it was a brave choice to include it. Gvetadze maintains a strong sense of architectural and thematic coherence throughout yet brings a fresh and improvisatory feel to the music. Some of her passage-work and pyrotechnics were glorious particularly in the opening  \u003ci\u003eAllegro Energico\u003c\/i\u003e. She could have made a little more of the orchestral sonorities by using a wider range of tone colours and textures particularly in the central section. The fugue which opens the final episode was brisk and well articulated. Gvetadze does well to maintain a strong sense of line and thematic coherence through the various subsequent changes of tempo in the closing pages. The prestissimo octaves at the end are dispatched with virtuoso aplomb although I have heard them played faster and more powerfully. The  \u003ci\u003eLento Assai \u003c\/i\u003ewas lyrical and elegant although it does not fully express the mysticism and other-worldliness that Liszt may well have been trying to realise. All in all, however, I thought this was a first rate recital. \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  -- Robert \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e Beattie, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Orchid Classics","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49607560495384,"sku":"5060189560172","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/958529-3521077.jpg?v=1777682038","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/widmung","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}