BERLIOZ: SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE
Transcribed for Piano by Franz Liszt
Hector Berlioz-Liszt, Franz Liszt
TODD CROW, piano
[
MS1058]
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REVIEWS
"heroic, [showing] endless flair, color and stamina."
The New York Times
"spine chilling" and "exhilarating."
The Times of London
PROGRAM NOTES
Already known as the reigning piano virtuoso in Europe, Franz Liszt was the first to recognize the absolute originality of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. At the work's premiere in Paris on December 5, 1830, Liszt, who met Berlioz for the first time the day before, was ecstatic about the work. Soon after hearing it again in December 1832, the twenty-one-year-old Liszt decided to make a piano transcription, the first of its kind of a romantic orchestral work. Completed in August 30, 1833, the transcription conforms as literally as possible to Berlioz's score as revised through the End of 1832. The piano score was published in 1834 and underwritten by Liszt as a friendly gesture to Berlioz, who seemed to be in perpetual financial distress.
TODD CROW has been widely acclaimed for performances in North and South America and Europe. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the American Symphony in 1992 and his London orchestral debut at the Barbican Centre with the London Philharmonic in 1986. In recent years he has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, England, Italy, Israel, the Czech Republic and elsewhere, and in recital or chamber music at the Berlioz/Dutilleux Festival in Manchester, England, Washington’s National Gallery of Art, London’s Wigmore Hall and Southbank Centre, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall. He has performed frequently with such groups as the Brentano, Borromeo, Shanghai, Miami, Miró, Dover, Escher, Daedalus, Jupiter, Composers and Concord string quartets, the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and with many eminent soloists, including famed jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. He is heard often on BBC Radio in both live and recorded performances and on numerous American radio stations. Since 1996 he has been music director and pianist of the Mount Desert Festival of Chamber Music in Northeast Harbor, Maine. In addition to many appearances at the Bard Music Festival, he has been heard at the Casals Festival, Maverick Concerts, Music Mountain, Musica negli Horti and Paesaggi Musicale Toscani in Italy, and other festivals. A prolific recording artist, Crow has recorded numerous recital albums, featuring works by composers from Haydn to Dohnányi as well as recent American composers, including Bolcom and Del Tredici, and songs with Sharon Harms and Robert Osborne. He has also recorded the complete works for cello and piano by Mendelssohn with Mark Shuman and Ernst Toch’s Piano Concerto No.1. Crow can be heard on the MSR, Bridge, Toccata Classics, ASV, New World, Albany Records and Golden String labels. Born in Santa Barbara, California, Crow is an honors graduate of the University of California and Juilliard School. Among his teachers have been Erno Dániel, Ania Dorfmann and Emanuel Bay. He is a recipient of the University of California’s Distinguished Alumni Award and is currently Professor of Music on the George Sherman Dickinson Chair at Vassar College. [
www.toddcrowpiano.com ]
PROGRAM
HECTOR BERLIOZ
Symphonie fantastique
Rêveries, Passions (Largo; Allegro agitato e appasionato assai)
Un bal (Valse: Allegro non troppo)
Scène aux champs (Adagio)
Marche supplice (Allegretto non troppo)
Songe d'une nuit sabbat (Larghetto; Allegro)
FRANZ LISZT
L'Idée Fixe (Andante amoroso)
MSR Classics
