Louis Lortie’s survey of the complete Années de Pèlerinage adds up to his finest Liszt playing on disc. The interpretations abound with new-found reserves of virtuosic flair and poetic sensitivity. You hear both of these qualities in the opening piece, La chapelle de Guillaume Tell, where Lortie varies the murmuring tremolo chords with subtle nuances yet doesn’t hold back in the climactic Allegro vivace. You hear similar textural variety and heightened drama throughout Aux cypres de la Villa d’Este II.
In both Orage and the Dante sonata Lortie’s superb technique enables him to articulate the long stretches of octaves in shapely legato lines that are executed with minimum pedal. This similarly applies to the ferocity and momentum Lortie generates in Vallée d’Obermann’s peroration. Whereas pianists like Claudio Arrau and Muza Rubackyté take their time to savor Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este’s jet-spray arpeggiated figures, Lortie’s comparable accuracy and finesse reveals them in a lighter, more playful manifestation. Lortie’s well-judged tempo relationships create unity and momentum in Venezia e Napoli’s Tarantella, but I prefer Marc-André Hamelin’s almost offhanded panache and astounding repeated-note technique. While Chandos’ slightly diffuse and distant sonics don’t match Rubackyté’s Lyrinx release for detail and warmth, they do reflect Lortie’s robust sonority as one might experience it in a small concert hall. Strongly recommended. [6/7/2011]
