Leslie Howard uncovers another disc’s worth of music either discovered or having become available following completion of the pianist’s 94-disc “complete” Liszt survey for Hyperion. Its first 45 minutes consists of eight preludes belonging to a sketchbook dating circa 1845-47, highlighted by a brooding, lyrical piece in C minor and a large work in D-flat that anticipates the later Ballade No. 1 in the same key. The seventh piece in the set is an abbreviated forerunner of the Liebesträume No. 2. The little album leafs contain striking passages where Liszt’s harmonic genius operates in gentle, subtle strokes. An early version of the beloved Liebesträume No. 3 (O, lieb, so land du lieben kannst!) contains strange thematic detours that were jettisoned later on, and a much shorter ending than the one we know. Perhaps the most interesting discovery is the Concerto sans orchestre, the first completed draft of what eventually would turn into the Second Piano Concerto. Its textures are less elaborate at this stage of the game, yet all the musical material from the final version is present.
For the most part Leslie Howard’s pianism encompasses a limited dynamic range and little in the way of outward drama. Bass lines don’t ring out and resonate, long lyrical phrases emerge as sober recitations, while passages requiring virtuosic thrust and energy (the Concerto sans orchestre’s climaxes) drag their heels uphill. Still, there are moments when Howard’s imagination takes wing and his playing becomes more fluid and imaginative, as in the aforementioned O, lieb, so land, and Album-Leafs. His annotations, as always, represent the acme of Liszt scholarship.
