Sophie Menter plays Liszt ~ Caprice Poetique No.3 ~ ’Un Sospiro’ ~ Recorded Leipzig

This roll recording of Liszt’s Third Concert Etude has closer connections with the composer than any other, created as it was by one of Liszt’s pupils from the 1870’s, Sophie Menter (1846 - 1918) Certainly she was his finest female pupil, whom he regarded as his pianistic ’daughter’. How appropriate that she should record a roll of this work which in her hands seems bathed in a glow of nostalgia. Especially the short improvisatory section which it could be imagined is a musical expression of her memories of Liszt, albeit with Wagnerian overtones. Regrettably, it appears to have been the only Liszt piece which she ever recorded, leaving us a tantalising glimpse of a legendary era in romantic piano music.