Liszt wrote some delightful waltzes when he was in his twenties and early thirties-Valse de bravoure, Valse mélancolique, Valse-Impromptu-and then more or less abandoned dance forms for forty years. So it has long been assumed that the four Valses oubliées which he produced in his seventies were inspired by some kind of nostalgia for his carefree youth. Although the title (‘Forgotten Waltzes’) seems to confirm that assumption and although there is the occasional sentimental episode, the Valses oubliées are actually not so much nostalgic as ironic. Obviously, they do not display the demonic attitude of the Mephisto Waltzes but they all have something sardonic about them.
The most popular of them, the first, is characterized by the impish rhythms in the opening bars, the pressure put on the initially charming main theme, the feverishly glittering second theme in high right-hand octaves, the inconclusive ending and its infusion with more than a hint of discontent. Following on, the second waltz begins jauntily, the mood varying throughout, from high-spirited to reflective, in an almost schizophrenic fashion. The third, similar in mood to the second, is stunning with its almost impressionistic colourings and repeated chords; the fourth, became almost permanently ‘oubliée’ and the first publication was not until 1954. Like many of the visionary pieces of Liszt’s last years, the ending is enigmatic: a beautiful irresolution of a striving dominant seventh over the immovable keynote. Finally, the unfinished Petite Valse S695e, was written some time between the composition of the third and the fourth Valses oubliées, since it is described as a pendant to the three waltzes; it may have originally been intended as a fifth Valse oubliée, hence its inclusion here. The piece is of that other-worldly nostalgic beauty unique to the gentler works of Liszt's old age, and is quite haunting. Consisting of 101 bars of music, and a final change of key signature indicating a return to earlier material, Howard completed the work by adding twenty-five bars, twenty of which are entirely Liszt's, and the last five bars containing the vanishing spectre of the previous phrase, in imitation of a passage in the Troisième Valse oubliée.
Filipec:
00:00 - Valse oubliée No 1
02:44 - Valse oubliée No 2
08:49 - Valse oubliée No 3
13:24 - Valse oubliée No 4
Howard:
16:41 - Petite Valse S695e (may have originally been intended as a fifth Valse oubliée)
14 июн 2024
