From Amazon.com
The noted music critic, conductor, and author Donald Francis Tovey described Liszt's
Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (What You Hear on the Mountaintop) as a series of "introductions to introductions," and truth to tell, it does go on. But then again, all of Liszt's symphonic poems are experiments of one sort or another. He invented the form, and although he may not have gotten every one of them absolutely right (meaning there are dull spots here and there), there are more than enough interesting moments to keep your ears occupied. Just make sure that you take them one at a time, and don't use them as background music. What Liszt does with the tunes is more important than the tunes themselves, so you must pay close attention.
--David Hurwitz
Chronique amazon.fr
Avec les
Poèmes symphoniques, Franz Liszt marque son attachement à la littérature et crée un genre que d'autres (Richard Strauss notamment) reprendront à leur compte. Si la quantité de poèmes symphoniques écrits est impressionnante, l'intérêt musical de l'ensemble est parfois discuté. Il n'en reste pas moins que certaines des partitions, comme les
Préludes, sont entrées dans l'histoire. L'interprétation de Bernard Haitink à la tête de l'orchestre philharmonique de Londres s'attache à mettre en avant le sens littéral de chaque partition.
--Marc Aigneaux
