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.
© TiVo
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Liszt: Piano Sonata / Tasso / Gretchen
Klassik - Erschienen bei Danacord Records am 01.01.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh, S. 306 (Digitally Remastered)
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 03.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Marche de Rákóczy, S.244c (Digitally Remastered)
Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, Reynold Holdhoff
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 13.11.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Liszt: Senza lentezza quasi Allegretto from Apparitions, S, 155
Klassik - Erschienen bei Pastel Records Canada am 01.11.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liebesträume ‒ Notturno 1
Klassik - Erschienen bei soundnotation am 15.04.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liebesträume ‒ Notturno 2
Klassik - Erschienen bei soundnotation am 17.04.2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Los Grandes de la Musica Clasica - Franz Liszt Vol. 1
Klassik - Erschienen bei ClassicalPirosDigital am 07.06.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Selected Pieces By Franz Liszt
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cascade-Medien am 16.08.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Legendary Pianist Mindru Katz in Live recordings of Concertos by Liszt and Tchaikovsky
Instrumentalmusik - Erschienen bei Cembal d'amour CD 154 am 01.07.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt - Poemas sinfónicos
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 21.03.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt, Los Grandes de la Música Clásica
Orquesta Lírica de Barcelona, Ida Czernicka
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 23.09.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Piano Works
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 03.12.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Christmas Tree
Klassik - Erschienen bei Epsa Music am 02.07.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Le pèlerinage de Fribourg, fantaisie musicale et littéraire
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 22.05.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rapsodias Hungaras
Orquesta Sinfónica De Eslovaquia
Symphonieorchester - Erschienen bei Music Hit Factory am 01.12.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Naturally Classical Franz Liszt
Pop - Erschienen bei Only Between Us Records am 07.04.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Odyssey of Love - Liszt and His Women
Klassik - Erschienen bei Deux-Elles Limited am 20.04.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S. 658
Klassik - Erschienen bei prospect am 19.04.2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Symphonic Poem No. 2, S. 96 "Tasso, Lamento e Trionfo" (Digitally Remastered)
South German Philharmonic Orchestra
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 03.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the theme B-A-C-H, S. 260 (Digitally Remastered)
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 03.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo