"Natasa Veljkovic provides us with impulsive, effervescent accounts of these works. Her playing of La leggierezza is remarkable for its chrystalline clarity, subtle inflexion and emotional restraint. Whilst avoiding any mannerisms, she achieves all the spontaneity of a live performance. One only has to listen to the lofty final bars of Les jeux d`eau a la Villa d`Este to appreciate that here we have an artist who is drawn more to the essence of the music than to the surface effect. One could say that this recording presents Liszt with the sunniest of dispositions, an impression reinforced by the first piece in the Venezia e Napoli that follows. This is no lugubre gondola, for here the sunlight reflects brilliantly on the water. Nevertheless, the ensuing Canzone is given all its tragic poignancy before yielding to a feverish Tarantella. There is a more subdued tone in the Consolations, although the impulse of the moment is just as evident here. Natasa Veljkovic`s interpretation perhaps places more emphasis on the ardour in these pieces than on any sense of resignation. It would be interesting to hear her play Les jeux d`eau a la Villa d`Este in context with the rest of the third book of Annee de pelerinage. She does give us more of this other aspect of Liszt in the LégendeNo.1, where in the final pages we get not only the religious ecstasy of the birds but also a real sense of human doubt in the spare unaccompanied theme. An heroic account of the 12th rhapsodie hongroise ends this exciting and colourful recording.

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