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"Rarely, if ever, can this densely written sonata have been presented so lucidly with each note precisely in place...the dramatic and lyrical aspects were never slighted or taken for granted."
—Peter G. Davis, writing in the New York Times about Robert Silverman's New York debut in 1978, when he performed the Liszt B-Minor Piano Sonata in Alice Tully Hall.

Franz Liszt only wrote one piano sonata that has survived, and this heroic work—it lasts for more than half an hour—was written in 1853 to celebrate the virtuoso pianist's metamorphosis into a conductor. As the sonata has played a major role in Canadian pianist Robert Silverman's performing career, it was fitting that Silverman performed the work at the concert he gave on January 19, 2003, to celebrate a major transition in his life: the end of his full-time tenure at the University of British Columbia—he was Director of the School of Music in the 1990s—and the culmination of a richly satisfying 30-year career in teaching. The concert was recorded in true-to-life sound by Don Harder and has just been released as a new CD, OrpheumMasters KSP880.

Silverman's recorded catalog numbers 25 albums, released by OrpheumMasters, EMI, Stereophile, Marquis Classics, and CBC Records, and he is perhaps best-known for his complete set of Beethoven's sonatas, which was recorded by Stereophile editor John Atkinson in 2000. Silverman received a Grand Prix du Disque from the Liszt Society of Budapest for his Liszt recordings, and he has recorded the B-minor Sonata before, in 1993 for a Stereophile CD. (It is also available on an LP mastered from the 20-bit digital tape.) The new performance clocks in at 33:58 compared with the earlier version's 33:11. Does this reflect a more contemplative approach in the intervening decade? Perhaps, but there is also deeper fire in the belly.

Silverman's Stereophile CD was an all-Liszt program; his new CD surrounds the sonata with Robert Schumann's symphonic-scaled C-Major Fantasy, a contemplative Nocturne by Frédéric Chopin, and Liszt's arrangement of the Beethoven song that is quoted by Schumann in the Fantasy.

As well as the Beethoven and Liszt sonata discs, two other Stereophile CDs featuring Robert Silverman are available: Intermezzo, recorded by Kavi Alexander, features Brahms's Piano Sonata 3 in F Minor and the three Op.117 Intermezzi. It is available on LP or CD. Concert, recorded live in concert by John Atkinson, is a two-CD set featuring Schumann's Sonata in F Minor (the so-called "Concerto Without Orchestra"), as well as works by J.S. Bach, Chopin, and Schubert.

Robert Silverman's new CD can be purchased for $16.95 plus S&H from the secure "Recordings" page on this website. It is also available as a special-offer "twofer" package with his 1993 Stereophile performance for $24.95.