Credits:

Konstantin Scherbakov

Description:

[Konstantin Scherbakov plays a collection of Liszt’s gorgeous opera transcriptions.In the 1830s and 1840s, Liszt took note of the popularity of opera at that time and published many arrangements and paraphrases so that the wealthy middle class could enjoy its charms at home. In doing so, he popularized the works of Mozart and Donizetti and demonstrated his own superb technique and talent as a composer. These works, which emphasize musical expression over narrative, seem to have been an important source of income for him throughout his life. The “Reminiscences of Lucrezia Borgia,” based on an opera by Donizetti, was first published in 1840, and in 1848 Liszt himself made extensive revisions to the work. Around 1880, Giuseppe Buonamici, with Liszt’s permission, simplified the structure and created a more complete version without redundancy (this recording is based on that version). The