Grieg: Saint-Säns: Liszt: Concerto, Concerto No.2, Fantasy

Contents:
Edvard Grieg:
Piano Concerto in A minor
I Allegro molto moderato

II Adagio

III Allegro moderato molto e marcato

Camille Saint-Säns:
Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor*
I Andante sostenuto

II Allegro scherzando

III Prest

Franz Liszt:
Hungarian Fantasy
**

Artists:
Earl Wild piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
René Liebowitz conductor
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra*
Massimo Freccia conductor*
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra**
Russell Stanger conductor**

Recorded Date:
Originally released 1962*, 1967**, 1963**
Producer:
David & Norman Chesky(remaster)
Engineer:
Bob Katz(remaster)
Piano Technician:
This disc has voluptuous, big-hall sound and ideal piano placement. Gerhardt and Wilkinson were a charmed team in the 60’s. In the Liszt Fantasy, Earl Wild cranks up the virtuoso effects. When he explodes on the hammer-bursting descent – yanking back the curtain for the Allegro Eroica entrance of the gypsy theme – you believe there is nothing he can’t do. In the Presto of the Saint-Saens, Wild pulls in the reins slightly, maintaining an elegant sheen. The concerto is rife with melodic caricatures, and Wild exploits them all; he makes the scattered runs of the second movement an elfin rollick. Go, Earl Wild!

Robert J. Sullivan, High Performance Review, Fall 1991