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
-
Liszt: Sonata / Fantasy And fugue On B-A-C-H / Totentanz
Klassiek - Released by AVIE Records on 1 jan. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Of Innocence and Experience
Klassiek - Released by 2L on 19 aug. 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante, S. 139
Klassiek - Released by Claves Records on 4 okt. 2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Excerpts from Années de Pélerinage, deuxième année: Italie and other works
Klassiek - Released by Signum Records on 30 jul. 2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Nikolai Golovanov: Liszt - Symphonic Poems, Vol. 2
Klassiek - Released by Music Online on 7 dec. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Nikolai Golovanov: Liszt - Symphonic Poems, Vol. 3
Klassiek - Released by Music Online on 7 dec. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Sonata Transcribed for Violin
Klassiek - Released by Roméo Records on 1 feb. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Nikolai Golovanov: Liszt - Symphonic Poems, Vol. 1
Klassiek - Released by Music Online on 7 dec. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: A Night of Classics
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 18 okt. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Great Recordings
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 22 okt. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Plays Paderewski And Liszt
Klassiek - Released by Everest Records on 27 feb. 1965
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Classical Collection - Liszt - Obras románticas
Klassiek - Released by ClassicalPirosDigital on 11 jun. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt - Time
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 27 jun. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Selected Piano Pieces
Klassiek - Released by Bomba-Piter (Manchester) on 1 jan. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nadejda Vlaeva - A Liszt Recital
Klassiek - Released by MSR Classics on 1 jan. 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berman Plays Scriabin and Other Composers
Klassiek - Released by Pipeline Music on 30 nov. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este - Sonata in B Minor, S. 178 - Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514
Klassiek - Released by VDE-GALLO on 16 sep. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Sonata - Piano Works
Klassiek - Released by Danacord Records on 15 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berman Plays Liszt: Années de Pelerinage Book 1: Switzerland, Concerto No. 1
Klassiek - Released by Pipeline Music on 30 nov. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Embrace: Songs by Hensel, Liszt, Ullmann, Grieg
Äneas Humm, Renate Rohlfing, Fanny Hensel, Franz Liszt, Viktor Ullmann, Edvard Grieg
Klassiek - Released by Rondeau Production on 22 jul. 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brendel plays Liszt
Klassiek - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on 26 feb. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo