Franz Liszt’s scintillating journey to the Underworld challenges pianists and thrills audiences. Jeremy Nicholas compares a selection of recordings of this diabolic masterpiece and selects his favourite
(5 out of 5 stars) When this recording first hit the shelves in its original Vanguard LP incarnation, the acclaim in the review periodicals was virtually unanimous. The only disclaimer presented by these reviewers (the only meaningful one, at least) was that the sound of the piano was somewhat brittle . Not every reviewer saw it fit to voice the same reservations, however, and my guess is that only those who routinely shunned recordings that did not capture the richest and deepest of tones felt it necessary to comment on this aspect of the recording. If there is one notion I hope to convey with this review, it is that the striking virtuosity and peerless musicianship demonstrated by Earl Wild on this disc outweigh any concerns stemming from subjective evaluations of the piano s sound. It is worth noting, perhaps, that even those reviewers who mentioned the sound of Wild s piano praised the playing preserved on this recording. The praise was well-deserved: Wild s playing is be