Reviews
of Discs -
- - LD002 - The Timeless Madonna -
A Grand
Teamwork Achievement, May 24, 2002
Frank Cedrone (1929-2003) Professor Emeritus
Music Department, University of Southern Colorado
Solo
Pianist Mary Kay Kapustka performs with the kind of piano
technique that is so necessary
to playing Liszt's music so convincingly. The Mixed Choir
produces pure vocal sounds, with their conductor, Richard
Robertson, controlling dynamics and phrasing in a magnificent
tribute to Liszt, the Abbé.
The organ sounds so soulful under the deft manipulations
of soloist, Francis Slechta. Perfection is the only word
to describe the organ episodes. The CD also features baritone
John Reschl, harpist Don Hilsberg, and conductor Robertson
at the organ, A fascinating CD amounting to another glowing
tribute to the "unknown" Liszt.
British Musical Society
Newsletter
Paul Shoemaker
Classical Music Web
Comparison recordings: Hungarian State Chorus,
conducted by Gábor Ugrin. Hungaroton HCD 31103 (S20, 56,
39, 34/1) [DDD]
The first time I heard the Gounod Ave Maria played
on the organ I was 8 years old and I thought the music was
so beautiful and mysterious. Never mind that it was a mechanical
organ at a museum that had once been the home of a very rich
man. But surely a CD entirely of Ave Marias will have
a limited audience today? Some Buddhists or Muslims might
be moved to feel pity that anyone could be so misguided,
but many fundamentalist Christians might even become angry
at what they would consider gross Paganism. During Liszt’s
lifetime his religiosity was assumed by his more severe critics
to be a pose and an imposture designed to deceive. Perhaps
you recall in the "Wagner" movie, Richard Burton
in the character of Wagner says of Liszt something like: "The
life he’s led! And now he wants to play me his latest Ave
Maria!" The accompanying gesture is one of amazement
and disgust.
But Liszt was unusual precisely because he
did truly believe. Through his music Liszt conversed directly
with God and he had no patience for human rules, formulas,
church bureaucrats, or bad music hiding behind sacred words.
When in Rome he would drop in on his old buddy the Pope and
chat with him as with any friend — and usually play the piano,
and for that piano playing even the Pope would put up with
anything. Cheerful words and a slap on the back were good
enough for the Pope, and Liszt’s Ave Marias are
good enough music to merit the attention of the ghosts of
Wesley and Calvin as well as of atheists and agnostics who
love music.
After all, Christians listen to masses by atheists
like Berlioz and Vaughan Williams, as well as the oratorios
of the Jewish Handel and Mendelssohn. Music is more sacred
than religion. Religion has always sought to absorb music
because it envies it that sacredness. And this disk is
a musical journey in the company of one who has seen many
beautiful things and wants to share them with us as clearly
as possible. That applies not only to Liszt but also to the
guiding spirit behind this production, Ms. Mary Kay Kapustka
who plays the piano arrangements which make up much of this
CD. Her playing lacks the fleetness, polish, and grace
of Horowitz, but no one plays this music with more sincerity
or commitment. The chorus sings effectively and clearly
without excesses of any kind. This is a statement of music
by a religious man, not a sectarian service, and as such
its appeal is universal, as was, for example, a recent similar
album by the "Anonymous 4."
The Hungarians, to whose fervent Catholicism
the religious music of Liszt has always appealed, in their
recording, use a larger chorus and sing with more Old World
religiosity and with a more reverberant setting, which means
the musical lines are not quite so clear although the drama
and passion are stronger. Their timings are actually very
slightly less than the Denverites. Your choice.
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