 Souvent considéré comme le meilleur élève de Liszt dont il devient un proche, fervent admirateur et ami de Brahms et Wagner, le Polonais Carl Tausig fait une carrière météorique de pianiste virtuose et de pédagogue, emporté par la fièvre typhoïde à 29 ans. L'essentiel de son œuvre étant perdu ou demeurant inédit, nous ne le connaissons aujourd'hui que par ses cahiers d'exercices et ses nombreux arrangements pour piano de pièces écrites par d'autres. Au sein d'une discographie assez pauvre et surtout cantonnée au Tausig transcripteur, cet album laisse enfin la parole au compositeur. Apparaît un petit maître romantique, sans génie mais bon faiseur, et si l'on écarte quelques morceaux clinquants dans lesquels on entend plus de virtuosité que de musique, d'autres en revanche s'écoutent avec plaisir : les "Réminiscences de Halka" (opéra de son compatriote Moniuszko) dignes des meilleures paraphrases lisztiennes, les "Deux Etudes de Concert" qui semblent annoncer Scriabine, l'Impromptu op. 1a, première page d'un étonnant lyrisme chez un adolescent de 13 ans, "Rêverie", beau et attachant nocturne, "Introduction & Tarentelle" et "Le Ruisseau", séduisantes pièces de caractère et, parmi les "Six Exercices", deux ou trois qui ne sont pas dénués de charme. Artur Cimirro qui signe le livret et inaugure ici une intégrale déploie toute la vaillance et la virtuosité requises. (Alexis Brodsky) One morning, Franz Liszt received at his Weimar home a distinguished Polish musician, who asked to introduce his 13-year-old son, and according to his father, a child prodigy. Liszt, despite having been a prodigy himself, did not like hearing them, as he knew that these children were often manipulated by their families for the profit and fame that young talent could bring them. Moreover, Liszt still considered them less able to express at the piano those feelings still unknown to them at their tender age. Although Liszt apologized for his refusal, the child went to the piano and began playing the Heroic Polonaise op. 53 of Chopin. Upon hearing how well the young boy played, Liszt was immediately astonished and enchanted by the little pianist, who played the difficult piece with such technical and emotional control that it could have been his friend Chopin himself, whom Liszt had often heard playing this same work. The child prodigy was Karol Tausig, born in Warsaw, and this first meeting with Liszt occurred on July 21, 1855. On that same day, Liszt commented that it was better for Karol to leave himself free to find his own way, since he considered having nothing to teach the boy. However, with the insistence of the father and son, Liszt did finally agree to give lessons to the young Tausig, installing him in his house as a family member.
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