Liszt
's sacred works as a group remain almost completely unknown, even though he wrote a lot of it, was devoutly religious for the second half of his life, and eventually became a monk. He wrote some 50 Latin motets, masses, oratorios, and choral-orchestral pieces like the ones on this 2022 release by the
Orchester Wiener Akademie
. Promotion for the album asserts that they "[bear] little resemblance to
's secular compositions," and while that's true enough, one might easily guess him as the composer. There is a lot of counterpoint, but the imposing Lisztian hyper-expressivity is there. Arguably the most interesting are the titular
Legends of the Saints
, with their programmatic writing. The second of the
Deux Legends, S. 354
,
Saint Francois d'Assise, la predication aux oiseaux
("
Saint Francis of Assisi, Preaching to the Birds
"), could easily be programmed with one of
Olivier Messiaen
's works referring to birds. Many of the pieces have a part for organ, and there is one organ solo,
San Francesco, S. 665
. The final
Hosannah, S. 677
, with its organ-brass interplay, would make a fine replacement for or complement to holiday-season
Mendelssohn
. The
and conductor
Martin Haselboeck
have been recording
's music on historical instruments and rediscovering a good deal of obscure music in the process, and this is all to the good. The period strings have some guts to them (no pun intended), and the performances, with a smaller ensemble that has been heard in the rare instances where this repertory has been recorded previously, have a lot of detail coupled with immediacy and warmth. The soloists -- bass-baritone
Tomasz Konieczny
and mezzo-soprano
Stephanie Houtzeel
-- are ideal. This is an unusually satisfying recording that will be essential for
buffs and is enjoyable for anyone. ~ James Manheim