Music: Magnificent releases of classic works by NZ-based artists
Prize-winning pianist Luu Hong Quang knew he was embarking on a musical and physical marathon when setting out to prepare the complete cycle of Franz Liszt’s 12 monumental Transcendental Études for performance. The challenging tone poems dispel any notion of Liszt as a purveyor of mere virtuosity. The Études require a deep appreciation of the composer’s expressive vision and poetic genius, and a brilliant range of pianism, from dramatic passion to ethereal enchantment.
Nghệ sĩ dương cầm Lưu Hồng Quang
Quang delivers magnificently. From the symphonic proportions of the wild ride that is Mazeppa to enchanting lightness for the almost impossibly fleet Feux Follets and the brilliant heroism of Eroica to climactic intensity in the set’s passionate centre, Wilde Jagd, Quang is in impressive command of the piano and the music.
Nghệ sĩ dương cầm Lưu Hồng Quang
Quang is currently based in New Zealand, pursuing doctoral studies under the guidance of Jian Liu at the NZ School of Music in Wellington. He played the complete Transcendental Études for the first time in his hometown Hanoi, before realising his ambition to record them in Liszt’s own birthplace in Raiding, Austria. Rattle has just released this recording in an album revealing, above all, Quang’s thoughtful musicianship and understanding of the broad arch of a cycle encompassing the life of its composer.
(By music writer Elizabeth Kerr – The New Zealand Listener)
