Haochen Zhang - Haochen Zhang Plays Beethoven and Liszt (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Following his recordings dedicated to Beethoven's piano concertos (BIS-2281) and Franz Liszt's Transcendental etudes (BIS-2681), the gold medal winner at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, Haochen Zhang, now brings these two composers together on this new recording with two summits of 19th-century piano literature: Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' Sonata and Liszt's Sonata in B minor. The Piano Sonata No. 29, the 'Hammerklavier', is the longest, richest and perhaps the most masterful of Beethoven's 32 sonatas. In it, he pushes the instrument and the performer to their limits, and even beyond. It's immense complexity, the utter diversity of it's movements and it's daring structural conception give the sonata an unrivalled place in Beethoven's œuvre. It was very rarely played during Beethoven's lifetime, and Franz Liszt contributed to it's discovery with a concert performance in Paris that has since gone down in history. No stranger to the description 'unperformable', Liszt also wanted to write 'the' piano sonata that would reconcile his own approach to pianism with Beethoven's legacy. His Sonata in B minor, a monumental work that transforms the piano into a virtual orchestra, is a landmark work that sums up Liszt's genius.

TRACKLIST

1. Haochen Zhang - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier": I. Allegro
2. Haochen Zhang - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier": II. Scherzo. Assai vivace
3. Haochen Zhang - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier": III. Adagio sostenuto (Appassionato e con molto sentimento)
4. Haochen Zhang - Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major, Op. 106 "Hammerklavier": IV. Largo — Allegro — Allegro risoluto (Fuga a tre voci, con alcune licenze)
5. Haochen Zhang - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: Lento assai — Allegretto energico — Grandioso — Recitativo
6. Haochen Zhang - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: Andante sostenuto — Quasi adagio
7. Haochen Zhang - Liszt: Piano Sonata in B Minor, S. 178: Allegro energico — Più mosso — Stretta quasi presto — Presto — Prestissimo — Andante sostenuto — Allegro moderato — Lento assai



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