Liszt: 19 Songs Virgin Classics0709 282 ****

Liszt was what you might call a 19th-century eco-musician. He recycled a lot and left swathes of pieces in a variety of versions. So, even if you don't know his songs – and they're still not heard that often in recital programmes – there's a fair chance you'll recognise some of the music in German soprano Diana Damrau's new Liszt recital. The three Petrarch settings at the heart of her programme are the same as the Petrarch sonnets for piano. And the final song, O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst, is better known as another piano piece, the hugely popular Liebestraum No 3. Liszt's vocal writing is well removed from the norm for mid-19th-century songs, and Damrau has the reach and resources to make light of its demands. She adapts freely to the wide range of moods and styles, which even moves into prophetic impressionism in the late Ihr Glocken von Marling. See url.ie/57cs