Richard Wagner

by Nikolai Lugansky

Overview

It shouldn't take listeners long to get over the novelty of hearing Wagner on the piano. After all, piano transcriptions were the primary way opera, in general, and Wagner specifically, were spread around Europe in the 19th century, and the composer's primary champion in this medium was none other than the greatest pianist of the age, Franz Liszt. Liszt's own transcription of the Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde is the pièce de résistance on this release by pianist Nikolai Lugansky; it is not terribly often played, and it has lost none of its imposing scope over the decades. Lugansky leads up to this with transcriptions by Louis Brassin, upon which Lugansky has elaborated, and with a quartet of transcriptions from Götterdämmerung that come from his own hand. These are quite artfully done, incorporating the familiar leitmotifs of the Ring cycle while filling them in with technically fearsome connective tissue. Lugansky has done nothing less than put the listener in the place of an audience that might have heard Liszt play Wagner in the composer's own day, and ideal sound from the small Scuola della Carità reproduces the aristocratic Paris salons where Liszt would often have held forth. A bold, fresh release from Lugansky that made classical best-seller lists in early 2024. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	03/08/2024
Label:	Harmonia Mundi
UPC:	3149020949191
Rank:	5893

Tracks

1. Das Rheingold~Scene 4. Einzug der Götter in Walhall
2. Die Walküre~Act III. Scene 3. Magic Fire Music
3. Götterdämmerung~Prologue. Liebesduett von Brünnhilde und Siegfried (Zu neuen Taten, teurer Helde)
4. Götterdämmerung~Siegfrieds Rheinfahrt
5. Götterdämmerung~Act III. Siegfrieds Trauermarsch
6. Götterdämmerung~Act III. Finale: Brünnhildes Schlussgesang
7. Parsifal~Act I & Act III. Verwandlungsmusik & Schluss-Szene
8. Isoldens Liebestod, S. 447

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nikolai Lugansky   Primary Artist,Piano

Technical Credits

Luca Zanotti   Piano Technician,Photography
Nikolai Lugansky   Transcription,Liner Notes
Zoltan Kocsis   Transcription
Franz Liszt   Composer
Richard Wagner   Composer,Original Material
Nicolas Bartholomee   Engineer,Artistic Director
Charles Johnston   Liner Note Translation
Louis Brassin   Transcription
Simon Pauly   Cover Photo,Photography
Felix Mottl   Transcription
Denis Morrier   Liner Notes
Little Tribeca   Realization
Irene Weber-Froboese   Liner Note Translation
Ambroise Helmlinger   Mixing,Editing,Engineer,Mastering