Paraphrase de concert sur Rigoletto (Verdi), S434/R267
12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S139/R2b
3 Études de concert, S144/R5: No. 2 in F Minor, "La Leggierezza"

As everyone I'm sure will agree, most if not all of the piano music of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) is very difficult to play, and one could argue that his Etudes in particular are extremely hard to learn and almost impossible to master. Most pianists have enough of a hard time simply getting over the technical hurdles that they completely neglect the fact that these pieces are loaded with dramatic narrative, vivid imagery and romantic ideal, and assault them like a bull in a china shop without any attention to expressive grace and finesse, with the end result that their interpretation sounds empty and devoid of spirit. One need only listen to the Etude No. 9 in A flat major, 'Ricordanza' on this new Naxos recording to realize that the young Moscow-born Israeli pianist Boris Giltburg, who won First Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2013, not only has the technical prowess required to ascend and conquer these peaks of romantic piano compositions, but is also gifted with the artistic temperament to tame the wild beast inherent to all of them. His command of the dynamic build-ups in No. 11 in D-Flat Major, "Harmonies du soir" is magisterial, and the way he still manages to shape his phrasing in the devilishly fast No. 4 in D Minor, "Mazeppa" is simply amazing. Highly recommended!