0:00 - O! Wenn es doch immer so bliebe, S.554/1 (1880, transcription of Anton Rubinstein's Lied Op 34 No 9, 1854)
Pf: Alexandre Dossin
8:06 - Der Asra, S.554/2 (1880, transcription of Anton Rubinstein's Lied Op 32 No 6, 1856)
Pf: Istvan Széleky
The prolific Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) wrote more than two hundred songs in a variety of languages, but the two which Liszt transcribed are among the few to retain a place in the repertoire. ‘O, that it should ever be thus’ (15)-sometimes known by its first line and mysteriously given a second catalogue number as a ‘missing’ Liszt work on that account: ‘Gelb rollt mir zu füssen …’ (‘The mighty river Kura flows golden at my feet’) is a translation by Bodenstedt of the Persian poet Mirza Schaffy: a hymn of joy to love and nature, once recorded in Rubinstein’s setting by Fyodor Chaliapin, and here given the most elaborate plumage in Liszt’s concert transcription.
The exoticism of Heine’s ‘The Asra’ inspired perhaps Rubinstein’s best song, and certainly one of his simplest, and Liszt carries the simplicity into his transcription with a further tinge of the hopeless lack of a comforting resolution so often encountered in his later music: ‘The youthful captive’ has grown paler by the day from watching the Sultan’s beautiful daughter on her daily walks to the fountain. When she finally demands to know his name, he tells her that he is called Mahomet, that he comes from Yemen, and is of that race of Asra who, should they love, die. (Leslie Howard)
Big thanks to the group Liszthesis for this video!
S.554/1: • O! wenn es doch immer ...
S.554/2: • Der Asra (piano transc...
2 июн 2024
