LISZT Piano Concerto in the hungarian style

It was in 1869, when she was 23, that Sofie Menter became Liszt's pupil. Five years later, she was appointed pianist to the Austrian court, and from 1883 to 1887 she served as professor of piano at the conservatory in St. Petersburg. Her performing career was reaching its zenith then, and it is likely that around 1885 she requested a work from her former teacher to use on her concert tours. The evidence is in the postscript of a letter written to her at Castle Itter in the Tyrol, and dated Aug. 3, 1885, where Liszt says, ''The Sofie Menter Concerto is begun and can readily be notated at Itter.'' The composer visited the castle shortly afterward. The diary of A.W. Gottschalg, in an entry dated Sept. 18, 1885, confirms that ''Liszt began a new piano concerto for Sofie Menter. It was completed with difficulty.''
Liszt presumably gave Menter the manuscript of the single-movement concerto, which he left unorchestrated, at this time. He was 74, and may simply not have wanted to be burdened with scoring it. He died the following summer at Bayreuth. It was apparently Liszt's idea that Menter ask Tchaikovsky to orchestrate the work, since he knew that the two were on good terms. He may even have gone further and suggested to his student that she take credit for the composition, for he was probably aware that Tchaikovsky - who had been irritated by Liszt's piano transcription of the Polonaise from the opera ''Eugene Onegin'' - would avoid the concerto if he knew the truth about its authorship.
Whether at Liszt's urging, or on her own, Menter told Tchaikovsky that she had composed the concerto. Several years passed, but late in the summer of 1892, Tchaikovsky spent two weeks at Itter, where it is thought he orchestrated the work. That same year, Menter performed the concerto in Russia, with Tchaikovsky conducting. A year later, Tchaikovsky, too, was dead. It was as a work of Sofie Menter, orchestrated by Tchaikovsky, that the piece was eventually published.
Cyprien Katsaris / Philadelphia Orchestra / Eugene Ormandy

[@randyfriend7474]

about 11min - unbelievable parallel octaves, so perfectly done, so technically flawless! SUPERB

[@pyseac]

Wonderful discovery. I don't know if it's worth noting that the video cuts out before the end of the piece.