Franz Liszt
Liszt was the only contemporary whose music Richard Wagner gratefully acknowledged as an influence upon his own. His lasting fame was an alchemy of extraordinary digital ability -- the greatest in the history of keyboard playing -- an unmatched instinct for showmanship, and one of the most progressive musical imaginations of his time. Hailed by some as a visionary, reviled by others as a symbol of empty Romantic excess, Franz Liszt wrote his name across music history in a truly inimitable manner.
From his youth, Liszt demonstrated a natural facility at the keyboard that placed him among the top performing prodigies of his day. Though contemporary accounts describe his improvisational skill as dazzling, his talent as a composer emerged only in his adulthood. Still, he was at the age of eleven the youngest contributor to publisher Anton Diabelli's famous variation commissioning project, best remembered as the inspiration for Beethoven's final piano masterpiece. An oft-repeated anecdote -- first recounted by Liszt himself decades later, and possibly fanciful -- has Beethoven attending a recital given by the youngster and bestowing a kiss of benediction upon him.
Though already a veteran of the stage by his teens, Liszt recognized the necessity of further musical tuition. He studied for a time with Czerny and Salieri in Vienna, and later sought acceptance to the Paris Conservatory. When he was turned down there -- foreigners were not then admitted -- he instead studied privately with Anton Reicha. Ultimately, his Hungarian origins proved a great asset to his career, enhancing his aura of mystery and exoticism and inspiring an extensive body of works, none more famous than the Hungarian Rhapsodies (1846-1885).
Liszt soon became a prominent figure in Parisian society, his romantic entanglements providing much material for gossip. Still, not even the juiciest accounts of his amorous exploits could compete with the stories about his wizardry at the keyboard. Inspired by the superhuman technique -- and, indeed, diabolical stage presence -- of the violinist Paganini, Liszt set out to translate these qualities to the piano. As his career as a touring performer, conductor, and teacher burgeoned, he began to devote an increasing amount of time to composition. He wrote most of his hundreds of original piano works for his own use; accordingly, they are frequently characterized by technical demands that push performers -- and in Liszt's own day, the instrument itself -- to their limits. The "transcendence" of his Transcendental Etudes (1851), for example, is not a reference to the writings of Emerson and Thoreau, but an indication of the works' level of difficulty. Liszt was well into his thirties before he mastered the rudiments of orchestration -- works like the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1849) were orchestrated by talented students -- but made up for lost time in the production of two "literary" symphonies (Faust, 1854-1857, and Dante, 1855-1856) and a series of orchestral essays (including Les préludes, 1848-1854) that marks the genesis of the tone poem as a distinct genre.
After a lifetime of near-constant sensation, Liszt settled down somewhat in his later years. In his final decade he joined the Catholic Church and devoted much of his creative effort to the production of sacred works. The complexion of his music darkened; the flash that had characterized his previous efforts gave way to a peculiar introspection, manifested in strikingly original, forward-looking efforts like Nuages gris (1881). Liszt died in Bayreuth, Germany, on July 31, 1886, having outlived Wagner, his son-in-law and greatest creative beneficiary.
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Infinite Liszt
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 11.07.2020
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Classical Sonosphere Vol. 1
Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saëns
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 22.06.2023
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A Classical Compendium: Liszt
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 16.09.2022
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Liszt: Années de pèlerinage: Premiere année, Suisse, S. 160
Klassik - Erschienen bei Turtle Records am 01.01.2004
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Franz Liszt: Années de Pélerinage 2e Année "L'Italie"
Klassik - Erschienen bei Denon am 01.01.1993
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Liszt: Après une lecture de Dante, S. 161/5 – Sonetto No. 104 del Petrarca, S. 161/5 – Funérailles, S. 173/7 – La Leggierezza, S. 144/2 – Ballade No. 2 in D Minor, S. 171/2
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 24.10.2013
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Franz Liszt - Rapsodia Húngara
Klassik - Erschienen bei ClassicalPirosDigital am 30.06.2015
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Peter Katin A Liszt Recital
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica am 10.01.2014
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Chopin, Liszt: Piano Sonatas & Concertos
Klassik - Erschienen bei UME - Global Clearing House am 22.05.2021
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Liszt (Red Classics)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cobra Entertainment LLC am 16.06.2015
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Mikhail Petukhov. Virtuoso Romantic: Liszt, Saint-Saens, Mendelssohn, Gounod, Rossini
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Royal Music Society am 08.08.2011
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Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, S. 244 - Gaudeamus Igitur, S. 240 - Fest-Polonaise, S. 230a (S. 528) & Weihnachtsbaum, S. 186
Pinuccia Giarmanà, Alessandro Luccetti
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 09.12.2013
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Berman Plays Liszt Etudes and More
Klassik - Erschienen bei Pipeline Music am 30.11.2006
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The Legendary Pianist Simon Barere: The Last Recording Sessions (Recorded in 1951)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cembal d'amour CD 114 am 01.01.2001
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Franz Liszt: Organ Works and Transcriptions
Klassik - Erschienen bei CDklassisk am 15.10.2008
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Masterpieces of Liszt
Klassik - Erschienen bei Avanticlassic am 05.05.2020
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Liszt: 2 Etudes de concert, S. 145 - 6 Consolations, S. 172 - Ballade No. 2, S. 171 - 3 Etudes de concert, S. 144 - Transcendental Etudes, S. 139 - Grandes études, S. 141 & Gagnebin: Concerto pour piano et orchestre, Op. 119
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 26.10.2013
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Ballade n°2 en si mineur, Rêve d'amour, Campanella, Sonate en si mineur - Franz Liszt
Klassik - Erschienen bei Saphir Productions am 01.11.2010
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The Art of Samuel Feinberg, Vol. 5
Klassik - Erschienen bei Classical Records am 10.02.2016
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Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2
Klassik - Erschienen bei Danacord Records am 01.01.2006
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