Lugansky Wagner Liszt, Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Franz Liszt (18111886) Isoldes Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, transcription for piano, S. 447 (after Wagner) (pub. 1868) Nikolai Lugansky, 2012 From Sverdlovsk Philharmonic Liszt chose to transcribe one of the most dramatic and oftenexcerpted moments, Isolde s Liebestod (Isolde s Lovedeath), from Wagner s masterpiece. It comes at the very close of the opera as Isolde grieves over the body of her love, Tristan. She sings, How softly and gently he smiles, how sweetly his eyes Liszt s effort here is reasonably faithful to the score, although he had to eliminate much of the vocal music. This is most noticeable at the powerful climax when the love theme resounds passionately. Of course, when orchestras play this excerpt in concert they typically follow this procedure as well, since the instrumental side of the music can stand apart here. The music starts off gloomy and sounding quite native to the piano, almost like a passage from one of Liszt, 39
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