Wagner Transcribed for Solo Piano by August Stradal, Vol. 2 Juan Guillermo Vizcarra

• Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883): Lohengrin:
• 1Free Fantasy20:55
• Tristan und Isolde:
• 2O sink hernieder, Nacht der Liebe' und Gesang der Brangäne - Einsam wachend in der Nacht12:03
• Das Rheingold:
• 3Schluss der letzten Szene14:38
• Parsifal:
• 4Karfreitagszauber (Good Friday Spell)12:15
• Siegfried:
• 5Schluss des letzten Aufzuges15:39
• Total Runtime01:15:30

Info for Wagner Transcribed for Solo Piano by August Stradal, Vol. 2

The Czech-born pianist and writer August Stradal (1860-1930) — a student of Bruckner and disciple of Liszt — was one of the more prolific transcribers of the nineteenth and earlier twentieth centuries, producing a vast quantity of piano music, including Liszt's orchestral works, most of the Bruckner symphonies, a good deal of the Baroque (not least a huge amount of Bach) and much more, most of it phenomenally difficult to play. This series of recordings presents his Wagner transcriptions, cast in the best barnstorming virtuoso tradition.

Juan Guillermo Vizcarra, piano

Juan Guillermo Vizcarra
is one of the leading Peruvian pianists of his generation, whose performances have been heard far beyond his native land: the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio called him a ‘rare case of extraordinary talent which is called to shine in the international scene’. He has received numerous honours in international competitions, among them the gold medal of the Third Béla Bartók International Piano Competition in 1995 in Lima, the silver medal of the Second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart International Piano Competition in 1991, also in Lima, and the bronze medal of the ird Ludmila Knezkova International Piano Competition in Canada in 2004. Juan Vizcarra has performed as orchestral soloist and recitalist in Canada, Chile, Mexico, Russia and the United States. Back home in Peru he is a frequent guest soloist of the Peru National Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Lima and other major Peruvian orchestras. In 2006 he was invited to perform with the National Symphony Orchestra in Lima for the annual anniversary concert of Filarmonia, the main Peruvian classical radio station. His most recent appearance at home was a performance of the Liszt First Piano Concerto with the Peru National Symphony Orchestra. Future performances include a solo recital at the 2015 American Liszt Society Festival, ‘Franz Liszt and Damnation’.

His training was international, too. In 1988 he graduated from the National University of San Agustin, Arequipa-Peru, receiving a Bachelors of Music in Piano Performance. In 1999 he studied at the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg. From 1999 to 2001 he studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, a er which he was appointed as faculty member of the National Conservatory, remaining until 2003. In 2005 he finished the Artist Diploma Program at the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and in 2009, also at twentieth centuries.2 Stradal also arranged a huge number of Bach’s works, and – as can be heard on the current disc – many works of Wagner, particularly excerpts from the operas. A more unusual Wagner transcription is Stradal’s two-hand arrangement of the Wesendonck Lieder as piano pieces without voice. …

Booklet for Wagner Transcribed for Solo Piano by August Stradal, Vol. 2