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552131-32bk VBO Liszt 7/8/06 9:10 PM Page 8 CD1 1 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 . 10:47 2 Liebesträume, S541/R211 No.3: Nocturne in A flat major . 4:22 3 12 Etudes d’exécution transcendante, S139 5. Feux follets . 3:55 4 Années de Pèlerinage, Année 2, S161 Sonetto 104 del Petrarca . 6:18 5 Mephisto Waltz No.1, S514/R181 . 11:50 6 Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125/R456 1. Adagio sostenuto assai . 7:56 7 Années de Pèlerinage, Année 1, S160/R10 Au bord d’une source, S160/R10/4 . 3:47 8 6 Consolations, S172/R12 III. Lento placido . 3:28 9 Les Préludes, S97/R414 . .. .. 16:55 Total Timing . 69:52 CD2 1 Prometheus, S99/R416 . 13:27 2 3 Concert Studies, S144/R5 III. Un Sospiro . 5:41 3 6 Etudes d’exécution transcendante, S140/R3a III. La campanella . 4:43 4 Piano Concerto No.1 in E flat major, S124/R455 IV. Allegro marziale animato . 4:21 5 Années de Pèlerinage, Année 3, S163/R10 Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este, S163/R10/4 . 7:26 6 Harmonies Poétiques et Réligieuses, S173/R14 Funérailles . 10:15 7 Valses Oubliées, S215/R37 No.1 . 2:55 8 Rapsodie Espagnole, S254/R90 . 13:15 9 Die Forelle, S564/R248 . 3:59 0 2 Concert Studies, S145/R6 Gnomenreigen . 3:10 ! A Faust Symphony, S108/R425 Final Chorus . 7:32 Total Timing . 77:14 FOR FULL LIST OF LISZT RECORDINGS WITH ARTIST DETAILS AND FOR A GLOSSARY OF MUSICAL TERMS PLEASE GO TO WWW.NAXOS.COM 552131-32bk VBO Liszt 7/8/06 9:10 PM Page 2 FRANZ LISZT (1811–1886) Alles Vergangliche ist nur ein Gleichnis, All transitory things are but a likeness; das Unzulangliche, hier wird’s Ereignis, what is insufficient, here becomes a true event; HIS LIFE das Unbeschreibliche, hier wird es getan, what is unwritten, here is accomplished; Liszt was the son of a steward in the service of the Esterházy family, patrons of Haydn. He was born in 1811 at Raiding das Ewigweibliche zieht uns hinan. the eternal feminine draws us upwards. in Hungary and was taken as a child to Vienna, where he took piano lessons from Czerny and composition lessons from Salieri. Two years later, in 1823, he moved with his family to Paris, from where he toured widely as a pianist. Influenced by the phenomenal violinist Paganini, he turned his attention to the development of a similar technique as a pianist and To explore the virtuosic world of Liszt, we suggest: in 1835 left Paris with his mistress, the Comtesse d’Agoult, with whom he travelled widely during the following years, ORCHESTRAL MUSIC as his reputation as a pianist of astonishing powers grew. In 1844 he separated from his mistress, the mother of his Tasso / Les Préludes / Mazeppa / Prometheus ................................................................................................ 8.550487 three children, and in 1848 settled in Weimar as Director of Music Extraordinary, accompanied by Princess Sayn- A Faust Symphony ........................................................................................................................................... 8.553304 Wittgenstein, turning his attention now to composition and in particular to the creation of a new form, the symphonic From the Cradle to the Grave / Orpheus / The Ideals / Hamlet ......................................................................... 8.553355 poem. In 1861 Liszt moved to Rome, where he found expression for his long-held religious leanings. From 1869 he Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (orchestral version) .............................................................................................. 8.554066 returned regularly to Weimar, where he had many pupils, and later he accepted similar obligations in Budapest, where Festklänge / Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne / Hunnenschlacht .................................................................... 8.557846 he was regarded as a national hero. He died in Bayreuth in 1886, four years after the death of his son-in-law Wagner. CONCERTOS As a pianist, he had no equal, and as a composer he suggested to a younger generation of musicians the new course Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Totentanz ....................................................................................................... 8.550187 that music was to take. PIANO MUSIC HIS MUSIC Rapsodie Espagnole ......................................................................................................................................... 8.225944 Orchestral Music Mephisto Waltz No. 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 8.550053 Liszt’s symphonic poems met strong criticism from champions of pure music, who took exception to his attempts to Valses oubliées ................................................................................................................................................. 8.550216 translate into musical terms the greatest works of literature. The best known of the symphonic poems are Ce qu’on entend Sonata in B minor ............................................................................................................................................. 8.550510 sur la montagne and Mazeppa, based on poems by Victor Hugo; Les Préludes, a symphonic poem after Lamartine; Tasso, Années de Pèlerinage, Vol. 1 ............................................................................................................................ 8.550548 based on Byron’s poem, Prometheus; the so-called Faust Symphony in Three Character-Sketches after Goethe; Symphony Années de Pèlerinage, Vol. 2 ............................................................................................................................ 8.550549 on Dante’s Divina commedia. Other orchestral works include two episodes from Lenau’s Faust, the First Mephisto Années de Pèlerinage, Vol. 3 ............................................................................................................................ 8.550550 Waltz, to which a second was added twenty years later, in 1881. Liszt wrote two piano concertos, and, among other Harmoniques Poétiques et Religieuses Nos. 1–6 ............................................................................................ 8.553073 works for piano and orchestra, a Totentanz or Dance of Death and a Fantasy on Hungarian Folk-Melodies. Liszt’s Transcendental Studies .................................................................................................................................... 8.553119 Hungarian Rhapsodies, written for piano, have been effectively arranged for orchestra. Harmoniques Poétiques et Religieuses Nos. 7–10 / Consolations / Other Works ........................................... 8.553516 Scherzo und Marsch / Liebesträume / Berceuse / Elégie ................................................................................. 8.553595 Piano Music Etudes .............................................................................................................................................................. 8.557014 Liszt wrote a great deal of music for the piano, some of which was later revised, and consequently exists in a number of versions. In addition to original piano music, he also made many transcriptions of the work of other composers and wrote ORGAN MUSIC works based on national themes. The violinist Paganini was the immediate inspiration for the Etudes d’exécution Organ Works, Vol. 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 8.554554 transcendante d’après Paganini, dedicated to Clara Schumann, wife of the composer Robert Schumann, and based on Organ Works, Vol. 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 8.555079 five of the 24 Caprices for solo violin by Paganini and on the latter’s La campanella. The Etudes d’exécution transcendante (Transcendental Studies), revised in 1851, form a set of twelve pieces, including Wilde Jagd (Wild Hunt), Harmonies du soir (Evening Harmony), and Chasse-Neige (Snowplough). The three collections later given the title Années de pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) wander from Switzerland, in the first book, to Italy in the second two, a series of evocative poetic 2 8.552131-32 8.552131-32 7 552131-32bk VBO Liszt 7/8/06 9:10 PM Page 6 Tivoli. The peace and beauty of the Villa d’Este is directly recalled in these pieces. pictures, inspired by landscapes, poems and works of art. The earlier volumes stem from the years of wandering with Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, S173/R14: Funérailles (CD 2, track 6) Marie d’Agoult, and the last from the final period of Liszt’s life, based in Rome. The Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, Philip Thomson, piano written between 1845 and 1852, represent, in the ten pieces included, something of the composer’s lasting religious Funérailles is the seventh composition in the cycle of Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, and perhaps the best known feelings, evident also in the Légendes of 1863, the first of the two representing St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds work in the collection. The title is a reference to the tragic events following the failure of the Hungarian War of and the second St Francis de Paul walking on the water. The remarkable Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, based on a theme Independence in 1848-49 when the leaders were executed by order of the Austrian imperial and military courts. from a Bach cantata, mourns the death of his elder daughter Blandine.