Seattle Chamber Music Society winter festival starts with a big Liszt

To hear pianist Adam Neiman talk, one might think he was talking about climbing a mountain.

"I said to myself, 'You know what, Adam, you will look back on your life in your last moments, and you're going to want to remember that you attempted something you were scared of.' "

He's referring to Franz Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, which rank with Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Bach's Goldberg Variations as some of the most towering works written for a solo pianist.

Neiman will tackle "the sheer epic challenge" of the Etudes during the Seattle Chamber Music Society's 13th Winter Festival, when he will play the dozen pieces divided among three free recitals on Thursday (#1-5), Saturday (#6-9) and Sunday (#10-12). These recitals, along with each performance of the cycle over the next touring year, will be recorded for an eventual DVD.

When asked why he would volunteer for such a risky venture, Neiman is thoughtful.

"Something like the Transcendental Etudes provides a very exposed vantage point. No pianist is without weakness; no one is perfect. The question is, do you let yourself be exposed? An artist should be vulnerable. I feel that my technique has reached a new level because of my work with the etudes."

A longtime festival regular, Neiman also wanted to present Liszt's cycle as a tribute to the composer on his 200th birthday year. "He was a pivotal and somewhat underrated figure. I guarantee that after people listen to the entire cycle, they will feel differently about Liszt."

The Winter Festival will also celebrate the music of Liszt's colleague Johannes Brahms, devoting all of Friday's concert to three of the composer's Trios (C minor; C Major; B Major) with violinist Ilya Kaler, cellist Amit Peled and pianist Alon Goldstein. This particular ensemble was one of the highlights of last winter's festival.

Brahms is also represented on opening night with the Sonata for Cello and Piano in F Major. Cellist Edward Arron and pianist Jeewon Park — a festival newcomer — will no doubt bring a special musical rapport to the work, as the two are husband and wife.

Also showing off his considerable chops will be festival favorite violist Richard O'Neill, who returns for two quintets — opening night's Shostakovich in G minor and Saturday's Arensky in D Major — along with Fauré's Quartet for Piano and Strings in C minor. Expect the Shostakovich to sizzle: O'Neill will be joined by violinists Stefan Jackiw and Ida Levin, cellist Ronald Thomas and pianist William Wolfram.

As if the Liszt weren't enough of a workout, Neiman will also play with Levin and cellist Andrés Díaz on Rachmaninoff's "Elegaic" Trio in D minor on Saturday, and on the festival's closer, Dvorák's Quartet for Piano and Strings in E-flat Major, also with Levin. When this year's festival ends, someone's going to have to hand this man a stiff drink.

Sumi Hahn: sumi@bewodo.org

This article was corrected on Jan. 24. An earlier version misspelled the name of the composer Franz Liszt.