PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

lama Sabacthani?’ and ‘In manus tuas commendo
spiritum meum’. A musical meditation on the three-note
motif also takes in the last Word: ‘Consummatum est’ and
the piece concludes with a harmonization and extension of
the chorale O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid! whose harmony is
at once simple and daringly dissonant. Desolate is the only
appropriate adjective for the thirteenth Station, Jesus is
taken down from the cross—fragments of the ‘Stabat
Mater’ and a varied version of the fourth Station trail away
into silence. The final Station, Jesus is laid in the tomb,
returns to the hymn of the opening procession, continuing
from the text ‘Ave crux spes unica’, with a calming
rhythmic accompaniment in before the most delicate
coda upon the melody from the fourth Station and the
three-note ‘Cross’ motif bring the work to a close.
The piano versions of eleven of the twelve Chorales,
better known, at least in catalogues, for they are never
performed, as choral works, were also published for the
first time in the New Liszt Edition in 1980. They are
obviously intended for private performance and represent
the simplest piano-writing to come from Liszt’s pen. As
so often in these circumstances, Liszt has supplied
copious fingering! In private, one may repeat the music
as many times as the verses of the hymn allow. Here, only
the structural repeated sections of chorale melodies
are observed, in numbers 7 and 11. It will be seen
immediately that the music to the sixth and eighth
chorales is identical with the equivalent movements in Via
Crucis—and it is not clear which version came first,
although the introductions and codas seem to indicate that
these chorales, at least, succeeded the longer work. Some
of these chorales are Lutheran, others based on plainsong.
The New Liszt Edition gives a thorough outline of the
sources of melodies and texts for those interested. There is
no clear order of these pieces in the sources, so the NLE
presents them in alphabetical order, which is adopted on
this recording. The titles may be translated: Hail blessed
Cross; Jesus Christ (The five wounds); My soul doth
magnify the Lord; Now thank we all our God; Now all the
woods are silent; O sacred head sore wounded; O Lamb
of God; O Sadness (on Good Friday); The Royal banners
(a different setting from the one in Via Crucis); What God
does is done well (different from the version in the
‘Weinen, Klagen’ Variations) and If thou but suffer God to
guide thee. There are many instances of very personal
harmonic colourings in Liszt’s versions—from which
many a hymn book might benefit!
LESLIE HOWARD © 1990
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