Liszt: The Canticle of the Sun

Liszt: The Canticle of the Sun

Liszt: The Canticle of the Sun
List Price: $21.98
Our Price: $13.85
You Save: $8.13 (37%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.99 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Composer: Franz Liszt
Performer: Leslie Howard
Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 1994-02-01
Music Label: Hyperion UK
Soundtracks:
  1. San Francesco (Preludio per il Cantico del sol di S. Francesco), for piano, S.498c (LW A301)
  2. Cantico di San Francesco, for piano, S. 499 (LW A307)
  3. Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave), symphonic poem for piano, S. 512 (LW A310): Die Wiege / Le berceau
  4. Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave), symphonic poem for piano, S. 512 (LW A310): Der Kampf um's Dasein / Le co
  5. Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (From the Cradle to the Grave), symphonic poem for piano, S. 512 (LW A310): Zum Grabe: Die Wiege das zuk?
  6. O sacrum convivium (I & II), for piano or organ, S. 674a
  7. Kirchenhymnen (2), for organ, S. 669 (LW E27): Salve regina
  8. Kirchenhymnen (2), for organ, S. 669 (LW E27): Ave maris stella
  9. Gebet (Preghiera), for organ or harmonium, S. 265 (LW E32)
  10. Ora pro nobis, litany for organ, S. 262, (LW E20)
  11. O sacrum convivium (I & II), for piano or organ, S. 674a
  12. Resignazione (Ergebung), for organ (or piano), S. 263/187a (LW E28)
  13. Il m'aimait tant!, transcription for piano, S. 533 (LW A98)
  14. Romance, for piano in E minor, S. 169 (LW A148)
  15. Ich liebe dich, transcription for piano, S. 542a (LW A194)
  16. Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth (IV), for piano, S. 534/3 (LW A81d)

Music reviews of Liszt: The Canticle of the Sun

Music Review: Liszt the Celestial
Rating: 5 Stars

Volume 25 in the Hyperion Liszt series introduces piano music borrowed from other compositions: the numerous transcriptions of various motets, choral pieces, and songs are representative. In addition, Howard has also recorded the solo piano version of Liszt's profound and last symphonic poem, "From the Cradle to the Grave." The quality of music and the impact of this piano version are largely responsible for my five star review. And yet Liszt's poetic piano arrangement of the "Cantico del Solo di San Francesco d'Assisi" is another blockbuster.

Liszt's passion for the Saints is evident in his two piano pieces, the Legends. Howard explains, "The Fioretti (Little Flowers) of St. Francis of Assisi was amongst Liszt's favourite inspirational and devotional readings, and it is The Canticle of the Sun from that book which provides him with the text for the choral version of the Cantico del Sol." Liszt changed the title in his piano version to "Cantico di San Francesco," and the work is a fervid and serious one. The booming opening hymn in the bass leads to a majestic thread of meditative ideas and passionate outbursts. Howard describes the work simply as "a paean of joy." Indeed, along with the counterpart piece, "Preludio," Liszt explores his own spirituality and religious zeal, best supported by the delicate and virile dynamics of the piano.

Liszt's thirteenth and last symphonic poem, "From the Cradle to the Grave" was written in 1881 and is one of those rare post-Weimar years' orchestral works. The philosophical meaning and nature of this last symphonic poem is decidedly somber. Humphrey Searle reports that the work "was inspired by what is apparently a very bad painting by Count Michael Zichy, and is divided into three parts, 'The Cradle,' 'The Struggle for Existence,' and 'To the Tomb: the Cradle of the Future Life.'" Liszt's orchestral version is visceral, but as always with Liszt's piano-writing, melodic fragments and individual lines of music reveal themselves better in his piano transcriptions. This piano version, I think, illustrates Liszt's pensive ideas quite well. The last portion in particular, "To the Tomb: the Cradle of the Future Life," sounds exalted in the piano's registers. The music itself plunges a dichotomy of depths: the funereal mood of death and the mysterious voyage of the afterlife. Although this is the only piano recording of this symphonic poem, I believe Howard's playing is noble and directed with careful pacing and dynamics.

No less significant than the two major works mentioned above are the smaller piano pieces derived from other choral compositions and songs. Both versions of "O Sacrum convivium" percolate with beautiful quietude, while the "Ave maris stella" is a wonderful pianistic treatment of a simple plainchant. There are other pieces here, however, that could be safely labeled "secular," and one of the finest is "Il m'aimait tant," a transcription of Liszt's own song, "which tells of the grief of love lost after a broken tryst." Clothed in Liszt's melancholic lyricism and Romantic sentiment, the piece is simply lovely. Another worthy transcription is the brief but even more effective song, "Ich liebe dich," played with heart-felt ardor by Howard. The "Romance" and "Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth" have been recorded elsewhere in their other versions, but offer new angles to familiar music content.

Bottom line: The absence of reviews for this Hyperion release is sad and the degree of quality these pieces exude can't be emphasized enough. The piano versions of the "Cantico del Sol" and Liszt's abstract "From the Cradle to the Grave" are celestial and imposing works. And in the various piano versions of motets and songs, Liszt displays a prolificacy that never ceases to be astonishing.

General CDs

Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Debussy: Clair de lune & Other Piano Favourites ImageDebussy: Clair de lune & Other Piano Favourites
Release date: 2004-05-18; Music CD
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops: $8.99
My Christmas ImageAndrea Bocelli - My Christmas
Andrea; Release date: 2009-11-03; Music CD
Best price: $7.21
Price in other shops: $18.98
The Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe ImageThe Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe
Release date: 2003-04-08; Music CD
Best price: $6.54
Price in other shops: $11.98
Bach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites ImageBach: The 6 Unaccompanied Cello Suites
Sony; Release date: 2006-06-06; Music CD
Best price: $10.60
Price in other shops: $15.99
The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere ImageAndrea Bocelli - The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere
Andrea; Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops: $18.98
Andrea Bocelli: Vivere - Live in Tuscany [Blu-ray] ImageAndrea Bocelli: Vivere - Live in Tuscany [Blu-ray]
Andrea; Release date: 2009-06-02; DVD
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops: $34.98
Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op 49 Op 66 ImageYo-Yo Ma - Mendelssohn: Piano Trios Op 49 Op 66
Release date: 2010-02-02; Music CD
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops: $13.98
An Evening With Il Divo-Live In Barcelona (CD/DVD) ImageIl Divo - An Evening With Il Divo-Live In Barcelona (CD/ DVD)
Release date: 2009-12-01; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $18.98
David Garrett ImageDavid Garrett - David Garrett
GARRETT,DAVID; Release date: 2009-06-02; Music CD
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops: $13.98
The Canadian Tenors ImageThe Canadian Tenors - The Canadian Tenors
Release date: 2009-10-26; Music CD
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops: $16.98
Similar CDs
Liszt:  Hungarian Rhapsodies ImageLiszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies
Release date: 1999-10-12; Music CD
Best price: $23.99
Price in other shops: $45.98
Liszt Transcriptions of Berlioz, Chopin, Saint-Sa?ns ImageLiszt Transcriptions of Berlioz, Chopin, Saint-Sa?ns
Release date: 1993-11-16; Music CD
Best price: $14.31
Price in other shops: $21.98
Liszt at the Opera: Operatic Fantasies, Paraphrases, and Transcriptions, Vol. I (Complete Music for Solo Piano, Vol. 6) ImageLiszt at the Opera: Operatic Fantasies, Paraphrases, and Transcriptions, Vol. I (Complete Music for Solo Piano, Vol. 6)
Release date: 1993-11-16; Music CD
Best price: $28.95
Price in other shops: $45.98
Liszt: Paralipom?nes ImageLiszt: Paralipom?nes
Release date: 1998-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $32.42
Price in other shops: $45.98
Liszt at the Opera: Operatic Fantasies, Paraphrases, and Transcriptions, Vol. VI (Complete Music for Solo Piano, Vol. 54) ImageLiszt at the Opera: Operatic Fantasies, Paraphrases, and Transcriptions, Vol. VI (Complete Music for Solo Piano, Vol. 54)
Release date: 1999-03-09; Music CD
Best price: $28.97
Price in other shops: $45.98
Liszt: Douze Grandes ?tudes (1837) ImageLiszt: Douze Grandes ?tudes (1837)
Release date: 1995-08-22; Music CD
Best price: $16.91
Price in other shops: $21.98
Liszt: Fantasies, paraphrases and transcriptions of National Songs and Anthems ImageLiszt: Fantasies, paraphrases and transcriptions of National Songs and Anthems
Release date: 1994-05-17; Music CD
Best price: $12.98
Price in other shops: $21.98
Liszt: Dances and Marches ImageLiszt: Dances and Marches
Release date: 1994-09-27; Music CD
Best price: $33.30
Price in other shops: $45.98
Liszt: Litanies de Marie ImageLiszt: Litanies de Marie
Release date: 1997-11-11; Music CD
Best price: $10.98
Price in other shops: $21.98
Liszt: Ballades, Legends & Polonaises ImageLiszt: Ballades, Legends & Polonaises
Release date: 1993-11-15; Music CD
Best price: $14.62
Price in other shops: $21.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles