Liszt: Piano Music – Tyler Hay

This innovative program of Liszt piano works shows the different faces of this towering musical genius: Liszt the priest is represented in works with a religious character or reference: the mighty B.A.C.H Fantasy & Fugue and the Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen Variations, two works of immense proportions and drama, in which the chromaticism is extended to its limits. The Jeux deaux à la Villa dEste is a late work in which Liszt lets the holy water pour and glitter in heavenly light. Liszt the devil is represented by the famous Mephisto Waltz No. 1, with its devilish laughter and fiendish virtuosity. Liszt the Visionary is represented by the four Valses Oubliées, short works with future looking harmonies and eerie melodies. The four Valses are not played in a row but are placed between each big piece, as a welcome relaxation after their tension and drama.

Young British pianist Tyler Hay recently issued a CD with original piano works by John Ogdon. He won the First Prize of the British Liszt Society Competition.   in Piano International (Sep, 2018)
Tyler Hay’s richly comprehensive recital opens and closes with two of Liszt’s grandest and darkest utterances: the BACH Fantasy and Fugue and the Weinen Klagen, Sorgen Zagen Variations, both performed with superb mastery and poetic empathy. The pedalling is rich and full, achieving a sonority that never degenerates into percussiveness, and when you hear the split chord ascent near the close of the former work (for John Ogdon ‘like the tortoise of Hindu mythology, appearing capable of carrying the heavens on its back’) you will hear a young pianist of already towering achievement.

So far so wonderful. But a suspicion that Hay is less happy in more interior music is …