Kentner plays Liszt Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude (1938 rec.) (1/2)

What do you make of the Siloti (roll) interpretation by the way?

To be honest, I don't like it very much. In the beginning, Siloti is changing a lot of notes (it sounds like an arrangement, really), and towards the climax I think the roll is played back too fast...it doesn't sound human.
But, well, I have never been a fan of piano rolls anyway...

No worry. It is more or less an arrangement. I meant more his approach to speed and rubato. Siloti is closer to the spacious/introverted approach, which I prefer in this. That's why I asked :-)

De gustibus non est disputandum! ;-)

I'm not sure that is quite right..... the poem itself seems to be aiming at Apollonian calm, not Dionysian exstasy! Though that is not to say that the music can't live a life independent of its inspiration to some extent.

I was wondering about that myself, too. But a mystical experience can be quite ecstatic. When you look at the score, it is full of indications like "Appassionato", "Molto espressivo" and double, even triple forte. These outbursts cannot be played in a tranquil way!

Ahhh, excitement...... to mark the differences between the excitement of a mountain and the excitement of a battle?

Well...tempo indication is "Moderato" in the beginning. I don't think I've heard a faster tempo than Kentner's. But the left hand melody comes out so beautifully with this pace!
It is a "battle" to play this accompaniment in the right hand well...if you don't have a big stretch, you can forget it (just like the Schumann Toccata).

For sure - the first couple of pages are the hardest in the piece for me!

It's from APR: "Louis Kentner, the pioneering Liszt recordings (1937-1941)"