Taking an Early Lied: Malcolm Miller is not convinced by an attempt to resuscitate some of Wagner’s early thoughts on his songs, but is won over by a mixed collection of piano works

Reviews of Declarations of Love: Complete piano works and piano songs for Mathilde and Cosima. Wesendonck-Sonata: Sonata for Mathilde Wesendonck in A flat major (WWV 85); Schlaflos: musical letter for piano in G major to Mathilde Wesendonck, 1856; Wesendonck Lieder, first version, 1857–8; Piano Elegie for Cosima / Albumblatt in A flat major, 1881 (WWV 93); Vier weiße Lieder for Cosima, revised version 1868; piano Hoteev, soprano Bulgakova (Hänssler Classic, 1 CD); Liszt & Wagner: Liszt Deuxième valse oubliée; ‘Gretchen’ (Eine Faust-Symphonie); ‘Sposalizio’, ‘Il penseroso’, ’Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa’, ‘Sonetto 104 del Petrarca’ (Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année – Italie); Nuages gris; La lugubre gondola I; Bagatelle sans tonalité; Wagner Prelude (Tristan und Isolde) arr. Zoltán Kocsis; Piano Elegie for Cosima / Albumblatt in A flat major; Isolde’s Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde) arr. Liszt; piano Cooper (Chandos, 1 CD).

November 2017, Volume 11, Number 3, 81–5.

These two CDs are welcome additions to the Wagner discography in different ways: Andrej Hoteev and Maria Bulgakova’s recording, an appealing focus on the theme of Wagner’s musical communications to his muse–lovers Mathilde and Cosima, is historically interesting as it highlights less well-known sources that enable a glimpse into the compositional process; it suffers, however, from rather poor performances. Imogen Cooper’s CD both highlights unfamiliar Wagner and Liszt transcriptions, alongside well-known repertoire, and offers a wonderful display of pianistic artistry.