Reviewer Stuart Sillitoe enjoyed Lithuanian pianist Indrė Petrauskaitė’s Ravel disc recorded for Toccata Classics (TOCC0508 review) and I find myself enjoying this Liszt recital recorded some ten years earlier, only now appearing as a Divine Art release. It was recorded in Lithuania in 2007 when, according to the Divine Art website, “her still newly independent home country of Lithuania had begun acquiring concert grand pianos for their fine concert halls”. Evidently this was among the first outings for the new Steinway in the Klaipĕda Concert Hall and very fine it sounds. Petrauskaitė coaxes a lovely sound out of the instrument and in the opening piece, Liszt’s transcription of Schumann’s Widmung, it is clear that a lyrical line is her first priority; the piece’s origin as a song is first and foremost in her playing though Liszt’s contribution is not downplayed as her strength in the climax demonstrates.

The recital is dedicated to composers seen through the lens of Liszt’s imagination and concentrates on his transcriptions rather than his paraphrases and réminiscences and mostly familiar ones at that. It is perhaps not surprising that these works have stood the test of time; Liszt could seemingly turn even the basest metal into gold but when presented with works of genius he rose to the challenge with a vengeance. Wagner’s drama’s inspired Liszt to great heights – his recreation of the overture to Tannhäuser is clear evidence of this – and Petrauskaitė has chosen two contrasting numbers that both showcase Liszt’s skill. Isoldes Liebestod is a study in controlled growth, holding that breathless tension until it can be held no longer, a huge climax that even Liszt wasn’t sure could be fully realised on the piano – he offered two alternative versions of how to recreate the sustain of the massive climactic chords while a later composer, Moritz Moszkowski offered a third – but modern pianos are better suited to the task and Petrauskaitė is easily its equal. The Spinning songtranscription from the Flying Dutchman is a glorious arrangement that is perhaps all the better for the fact that its florid and highly decorative accompaniment should not detract from the playfulness of the melody. Its wizardry is wonderfully evoked by Petrauskaitė.

The lyrical facets of Widmung and imaginative virtuosity of the Wagner are qualities brought to bear in four of Liszt’s huge corpus of Schubert song transcriptions. The most restrained, certainly in terms of keyboard decoration is the unnerving Der Doppelgänger where Petrauskaitė brings a clear distinction of timbre to vocal and accompanying piano parts and fully captures the horror of the narrator at the vision of doom in front of him. Petrauskaitė maintains this eloquence through Der Müller und der Bach and the complex textures and wide stretches of Frühlingsglaube ending the short group on a lighter note, clearly enjoying the sparkle and cheeky humour of Hark, hark the lark. This was once a popular encore if not quite as ubiquitous as the sixth of Liszt’s Soirée de Vienne once was; even now this elegant waltz is by far the most frequently played of the set. All nine are wonderful medleys derived from Schubert’s large collection of short dances and, while the attention turned to Johann Strauss rather than Schubert, they can be seen to have spawned a vast collection of waltz transcriptions from numerous virtuosi in the years that followed. Petrauskaitė is as gracious as anyone in this piece, finding the right balance of caprice in its quicksilver arabesques. She ends with another altogether grander waltz, that from Gounod’s opera Faust. This piece straddles the border between transcription and paraphrase; the waltz is astonishing and that I prefer this transcription to the original – sorry Gounod-philes. Liszt brings his opera fantasy-hat to the table by adding an extra dimension to the middle section in which Faust and Marguerite’s waltz interlude concludes with an shimmering and extended cadenza-like section based on the third act Ô nuit d’amour.  Petrauskaitė is magisterial here and brings this recital to a virtuosic and glittering conclusion. The sound is lovely with the piano captured marvelously and the booklet has useful information about the repertoire. An admirable release.