Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude (Hough, Korstick)

Liszt’s Benediction of God in Solitude is a marvel: a tender, luminous testament to Liszt's underappreciated lyric abilities. For flat-out beauty few things match it. It’s also a masterclass in textural writing – just count at all the ways the main theme is decorated: An inner-voice arpeggio underneath a measured trill (right at the beginning); a semi-measured arpeggiated chord with emphasis on the lowest voice (m.86); a bigger semi-measured arpeggiation (m.105); crystalline 2-voice chains (m.156 – and from m.158, the shape actually borrows from the dominant-tonic-supertonic-mediant pattern of the melody’s first 4 notes); a straighforward LH rising/falling arpeggio (m.253) that gradually expands (m.272); and long strings of rippling RH wavelets (m.308). It’s entirely possible to hear these textures as lushly spiritual, but in all honesty I hear waves – which places this work in my head alongside Liszt’s other water-related masterworks (St Francis, Au bord d'une source, The Fountains of the Villa d’Este). Structurally the Benediction is a kindo-of-rondo, with the main theme (refrain) getting a fair bit of development. It also contains an inspired moment (which Liszt was to replicate in the B minor Sonata) when a completely new theme (Andante semplice) enters in the midst of extensive and recapitulatory coda. The tonal layout of the work is very precise – each section’s tonality drops by a major 3rd, while the opening section in F# anticipates much of what is to come by prominently featuring D and Bb. And in the coda of the work, the 2nd and 3rd themes are stated in F#, thus resolving the tonal tension between the sections much as the recap in a sonata would. 00:00 – A section, in F#. Theme 1. A long, lyrical melody in two parts. Prominently features the key of D in its second half, then modulating into A# minor before entering darker, almost improvisatory territory (m.43). 03:16 – A’ section. Theme 1 developed, and gets a new, exultant tail (4:47) in Bb. Modulates back into F#, and we get a codetta heavily borrowing from the shape of m.9 in the LH, and from the melody’s first four notes in the RH. 06:40 – B section, in D (a key anticipated in the earlier section). Theme 2. A simple melody based around chains of falling thirds, harmonised fauxbourdon-style (note the preponderance on fourths in the RH). The only time the piece ventures into tragic territory comes at m.211 when we move into B min – before being gently steered back into D. 09:38 – C section, in Bb. Theme 3. The apparently new melody here subtly references the A section at m.47-49 (similarly melodic shape). Theme 3 is diminuted, before slipping into Db (m. 234, 10:26), and modulating through several keys to reach G min. Theme 3’s first phrase in then canonically treated starting from m.244, rising in tension to lead back into the 11:39 – A’’ section. Remarkable how a return to a simple treatment of Theme 1 – simple arpeggiated chords over simple arpeggios – suddenly sounds so moving. Builds slowly and inexorably into a massive climax. 13:27 – The codetta returns, this time with the RH spinning out a single delicate line of arpeggios. The shift into 3/2 time is nearly unnoticeable, but gives the melody a lot more breath. [Coda] 14:37 – C’ section, in F#. Now transformed into something almost like a chorale. Moves into E (as it did earlier) and pauses in a repeated B, which gives way to 15:45 – Theme 4, in F#. A magical moment. Hard to say what exactly gives this melody its consoling, tender quality. The newness is part of it, certainly. But also the fact that this melody contrasts Theme 3 in its shape – descending stepwise to the tonic, rather than ascending – and the simplicity of the accompaniment. 16:26 – Theme 2, in F#. An unexpected recollection. 16:58 – Theme 3 is stated in B (implied by the E natural) and D Lydian (same harmonic progression as in the codetta!), before we get the final cadential 6/4.