Search - Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Franz Liszt, Annie Fischer :: Schubert and Liszt: Piano

Annie Fischer - A rarely recorded glimpse at genius

Eeesh | US | 11/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Annie Fischer, the reclusive Hungarian pianist, in general distrusted the new-fangled business of recording technology. For her, performance was not so much about documentation as about expression and the thrill of the moment. Nonetheless, she did manage to make a handful of successful recordings, and this is certainly one of them.Fischer's performance of Schubert's ultimate piano work, the epic Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major, certainly deserves to be considered a classic. The B-flat Major Sonata is a work of epic scope, resigned pathos, and breathtaking beauty. Fisher's interpretation is physically powerful, deeply humane, subtly ironic, and thoroughly refreshing. Her expressive drive is relentless, perfectly complimenting Schubert's unique compositional style, and this recording is a powerful document of Fischer's artistry. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt's B Minor Piano Sonata is an interesting match-up with the Schubert. Both works are thorougly idiosyncratic and demonstrate the very highest compositional ability of their respective composer. Perhaps more difficult to digest than the Schubert, the B Minor Sonata is nonetheless a work of unique beauty and epic proportions. It is also a work that is obviously very close the heart of Annie Fischer, who performs it with a distinctly Hungarian decisiveness: a performance that demands your attention. A highly recommended classic album."

Febrile passion, incandescent inspiration!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 07/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The superb majesty contained in the famous Liszt' s Sonata in B minor makes of it, a true one of a kind in its style, pronouncement and epic frenzy.



This work has always stood aloof from the rest of its similar Opus. And truly, no other piano piece expresses with such intense quality of dramatic sense the ferocious struggle between Mefisto and Faust, there are radiant passages all the way through, the delirious love between Margarita and Faust , the electrifying mythic enrapture and that so well known ambiance of Romantic mood.



Just a few pianists along the history of the music have known to capture with its amazing epic intensity, every one of these passages. Most of them have just stared the romantic gaze, overlooking the rest of the valorous set.

Annie Fisher must be included in this reduced list of memorable pianists who understood and epitomized with feline bravura and enraptured flair the whole meaning of this masterpiece.



It would be quite appropriate to pay attention to this invaluable recording, not only because its musical qualities, the marvellous fingering, and vibrant expression expressed by this piano's colossus, but because he knew to get inside the core of the score like just a few have been able to make it.



There are certainly other emblematic versions, and if I may , I would suggest you Edith Farnadi (my first choice by far,pitifully not released on CD format), Clifford Curzon, Earl Wild, Claudio Arrau, Mikhail Rudy, Michael Ponti, Peter Donohoe and Luz de Moura Castro, among the most relevant in its genre.



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