Louis Lortie - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor / 3 Etudes De Concert (1987)

Louis Lortie is a relatively unknown pianist who records for the Chandos label. His biggest claim to fame is winning the Busoni competition in 1984. He is most known for his recordings for Chopin, Ravel and Beethoven, but he has a few Liszt albums. These include the concertos, and the years of pilgrimage, and this album.

This albums features the iconic Liszt Sonata, and his 3 concert studies, S. 144. These etudes include "Il Lamento", "La Leggierezza" and "Un sospiro". The Liszt Sonata is pretty well played. Lortie is able to handle this colossal work in Sonata form, and keep the piece together with a contiguous and consistent sound to it. It features excellent sense of timing, and reasonable use of rubato and crescendo when it is appropriate. It features a relatively romantic tinge to it that is welcome and applicable. The rendition is by no means a benchmark recording, but is really a solid rendition to base other judgement upon and is certainly well above average. Quite a few pianists with much bigger fame or respect have recorded far worse interpretations of the work.