Hmm, better tone than I expected, but it’s still very “solid” and more like a good student than a genuine Lisztian. Imo.
Bolet would be good in this sort of piece. Not truly comparing like with like, but this is what I think contemplative Liszt should sound like:
I’ve mentioned this before, but what I like so much about it is that he completely takes the piano out of the equation (not just in this piece, but throughout his Liszt group). It’s Kempff kind of Liszt, where you’re forgetting both instrument and pianist and get a full, head-on focus on the music. It’s very rare, normally whenever pianists see a Liszt score they seem to take it as a challenge or invitation to show off their tech etc, and I’m so sick of it. I love Liszt’s music, free of these antics, and that’s what you get here. In Brendel’s hands the piece is wonderfully evocative, and at his best he also has this autumnal quality to his playing I find very beautiful.
I concede good Brendel is exceedingly rare however. I took a deep dive in his legacy a couple of years ago, and the amount of genuinely great playing therein is less than 2 hours IMO. Though there is a lot more which is enjoyable and passable.
Well, to be fair, that piece wasn’t exactly a technical challenge. I think that with the truly great Liszt pianists (say - Cziffra, Berman, Bolet, Wild, Richter) the technique issue is a red herring. We already know they have stellar technique; they’re not flaunting it, it’s just there, and when critics complain about them “showing off” they are merely demonstrating their own prejudices. Cziffra in particular doesn’t show off - he knows what he does is impressive, but it’s also completely natural… for him. Leaving him, as he is somewhat sui generis…
Brendel in Liszt brings to mind the champion snooker player who tries to play 9 ball pool. He has all the basics covered but his strengths (cf Brendel in Haydn, eg) don’t really help him with the subtly different parameters required by the changed environment / context in which he’s deploying his skills. I don’t think Brendel is suited, either sonority, expression-wise, or temperamentally, for Liszt: there’s too much of the classicist and the analytical about him.
What do you guys think of Cziffra’s Liszt Sonata?
I find it fascinating that he’s such a noted Liszt player but the sonata just didn’t ‘fit’ his style, it’s more the POPE Liszt than the PIMP Liszt. Cziffra is more at home in the pimped out stuff.
Da Ziff pulls it around and affects the structural unity imo. That said, his pp playing is absolutely exquisite.
hahaha I dun lyk hiz HR n TEz eithah
da 
iz actually a chopinizt 
Diz unholy zacrilege from da mart! Am I on 88 street or zumthing? :o
hahaah pianiztz in 1930’z played lyk fuckin paderewski
da 
/ gilels zet ground fo a totally new way of playtin dat became da modern pro way
haha ok a few HRz r wikid
da hiliariouzly da fav mart chop mofo
da ziff 25/10, coldfart and 25/12 are an epic combo, tru.
haha even in da chop MOIZT lyk da op 51 or 25/7 da ziff iz da bezt
tru, da Ziff cuntraverzially a much undahrated purveyah of moiztchah.
If you have never been a Brendel devotee, I guarantee that the recording below will completely convert you into a hardcore fan:
Rezpecable CG, he should do one for da Dongah 
Tru! I didn’t even look at the other videos, and couldn’t tell from the display pic.
I never said I can’t stand Medtner, dude.