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 Concerto No. 1 - Dance Macabre
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Works
Classical - Released by Pipeline Music on Jun 7, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: 12 Études d'exécution transcendante
Classical - Released by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on Jan 1, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel, Escaich, Liszt, Rachmaninoff & Ligeti: Works for Piano
Classical - Released by Claves Records on Jun 30, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Piano Classics
Classical - Released by Heritage Records on Jun 12, 2014
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Liszt: Grand Etude de Paganini No. 6 in A Minor, S. 141 (Digitally Remastered)
Classical - Released by EMG Classical on Sep 3, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Romantic Piano
Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jun 19, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1, Hungarian Fantasy & Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Classical - Released by Everest Records on Aug 2, 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Liszt: Sonata in B Minor, S. 178 & Robert Schumann: Phantasie in C Major, Op. 17
Classical - Released by Tuxedo Music on May 23, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Romantic dinner
Frédéric Chopin, Pyotr Illitch Tchaïkovski, Franz Liszt
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jan 31, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandi Pianisti Jorge Bolet
Jorge Bolet, Franz Liszt, Serge Rachmaninoff
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on May 7, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bohèmes
Isabel Villanueva, François Dumont
Classical - Released by IMM on Oct 13, 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Halloween At Home
Franz Liszt, Modeste Moussorgski, Antonín Dvořák
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Oct 19, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lazar Berman plays Liszt
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jan 12, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elly Ney : The Complete Brunswick & Electrola Solo 78-RPM recordings
Classical - Released by APR on Jun 7, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandi Pianisti Tamas Vasary
Tamás Vásáry, Franz Liszt, Frédéric Chopin
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jun 11, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Sonata in B Minor. Piano Pieces
Classical - Released by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on Jan 1, 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Infinite Liszt
Classical - Released by UME - Global Clearing House on Jul 11, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: The Art of Remembering
Classical - Released by Avie Records on Nov 6, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Piano Favourites
Classical - Released by CRD Records on Jan 1, 1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -