PIANO MUSIC - Abeille Musique

is come’)—is a typical song of the spring, simple and
strophic, which Liszt treats in his familiar way as a theme
and variations, but he extends the ritornello at the end of
each verse and the reflective coda is echt late Liszt. It is a
pity that Lessmann’s music to the Trinklied (‘Drinking
Song’), although full of theatrical humour, is not quite as
amusing as the poem, which is seriously dedicated to all
that flows, red or white, calls down pestilence upon
anything dry, and muses on the fortification alcohol
provides equally for love and hate. Liszt makes the middle
section (which contains a somewhat disconcerting
premonition of Grainger’s Country Gardens) much too
awkward for the piece to have any prospect of general
revival. Du schaust mich an (‘You look at me’)—the
beloved looks at the poet with unspoken questions—is a
splendid love-song the original of which ought to make a
good encore at a Lieder recital, and Liszt’s transcription
rekindles an ardour which harks back to his most fulsome
mid-life Romanticism.
The first publication of the last piece in this recital
reads: ‘Le célèbre Zigeuner-Polka de Conradi pour le piano
par F. Liszt’ and advertises an orchestral version
(Conradi’s original) and a facilitated piano version (not by
Liszt). The idea of any music by August Conradi (1821–
1873) being ‘celebrated’ strikes one as a bit odd today, but
Conradi, who for a time acted as Liszt’s musical secretary
and amanuensis and carried out some orchestrations of
Liszt’s works under Liszt’s instructions, was a prolific and
successful composer in his day, especially with his lighter
orchestral works—although he wrote operas, symphonies
and much other more serious music, all quite forgotten
now. He wrote the Zigeuner-Polka in 1843, and it had
certainly become popular before Liszt transcribed it. Apart
from the introduction and coda, and one or two
transitions, Liszt’s version makes no attempt to improve
Conradi’s structure, which is really just a succession of
short dance tunes joined together without much in the way
of reprise. As one might expect, the Hungarianisms are
accentuated by Liszt in his added passages, which are a
good deal less tame than Conradi’s agreeable four-square
tunes.
LESLIE HOWARD © 1996
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