While Aldo Ciccolini’s pioneering stereo recording of Liszt’s Années de pèlerinage may be familiar via EMI’s 1989 budget-priced CD reissue, this first CD release of the pianist’s rare 1954 mono traversal is bound to pique piano mavens’ curiosity. The main differences between the sets concern sound quality more than interpretation. Jean-Charles Hoffelé’s booklet notes accurately describe the mono version’s dry and drab engineering and less than alluring instrument. What is more, Ciccolini’s musicianly virtuosity and all-encompassing sympathy with Liszt’s style greatly benefits from the stereo remake’s wider dynamic range and far more resplendent concert grand. For example, the octave pyrotechnics in Orage, the Dante Sonata, and Vallée d’Obermann’s concluding section make less febrile an impact here. On the other hand, Ciccolini’s spacious phrasing and subtle pedal effects in Au bord d’une source and Les jeux d’eau à Villa d’Este favorably compare to their terser, drier stereo counterparts. Both Sunt lacrymae rerum and Marche funèbre receive slower, more massively textured readings that considerably differ from the quicker, leaner stereo versions, making a clear-cut choice impossible. Incidentally, Ciccolini omits the three Venezia e Napoli pieces with which Liszt supplemented Book 2, but his tender, lyrically-sustained set of Liszt’s Six Consolations makes a welcome filler.
