FREDERIC LAMOND (1868-1948)
Scottish pianist

Frederic Lamond was one of Liszt's last pupils.  If his playing gives us a window into the way Liszt himself played, he must have been amazing.  Lamond combines technical perfection with a deep musical sensibility, giving every note its due, never rushing, and yet sustaining a sense of the dramatic that grips the listener and does not let him go until the end.  His performance of the "Waldstein" is a perfect case in point.  Even the simplest of pieces are played exquisitely as is the Rondo in G.

It can be assumed that his performance of the music of Liszt bears a strong influence of the master upon the student.  The recordings on this page are among the very finest of any works by Liszt I have ever heard.  Indeed, Frederic Lamond's recording of the Liszt second concerto is wonderful.  When was it decided that everything had to be played bravura style?  The delicacy and transparency of Liszt's gorgeous music at Frederic Lamond's hands is a revelation.

Frederic Lamond's Beethoven is equally marvelous.  The shortest phrases in either hand, even the grace notes, have shape and direction, and the architectural structure of musical sections and entire works is there in all its clarity to behold.

The only performances on this page that are not entirely satisfying to me are the two Mazurkas of chopin.  While they are played splendidly, they sound to me more like stilted waltzes.

At the very end is a recording of Frederic Lamond speaking of his studies with Liszt.

Beethoven  Rondo in G major, Op 51~2

recorded in 1935