Liszt (including CD)

Author: Yang Zhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary in 1811 and died in Bayreuth in 1886. He was a Hungarian pianist and composer. His father was an outstanding amateur musician. Liszt received musical education from a young age and was able to play the highly difficult E-flat Major Piano Concerto by Ries at the age of 9. He studied for six years with the support of a group of Hungarian nobles. In 1822, the family moved to Vienna, where he studied piano with Czerny and theory with Salieri. He was a master of piano performance, revolutionizing and expanding the piano playing techniques of the time. He was also a composer who made creative contributions, being the founder of the highly important modern genre of symphonic poems. To understand Liszt's piano concertos, one must first understand his playing style. His innovations in piano playing techniques and his talent for performance seemed to rival the genius of violinist Niccolò Paganini in the violin field. When Liszt sat at the piano and played, the strings resonated not just with individual notes, but with a magnificent scene that captivated the audience. Pianist Clara Schumann, upon hearing Liszt play for the first time in 1838, said, "I couldn’t help but weep; he conquered me. In front of Liszt, all other pianists seemed insignificant—even Thalberg." The famous conductor and pianist Charles Hallé, after attending one of Liszt’s concerts, recalled: "His playing style was as majestic as his genius. At a concert where he played piano and Berlioz conducted the symphony, Berlioz first conducted the March to the Scaffold from his Symphonic Fantasy. It was a brilliant orchestral piece. But before the concert ended, Liszt alone played the piano arrangement of this movement, which surpassed the effect of the entire orchestra and produced an incredible intensity. Liszt had another aspect as well—a poetical composer. Schumann, who opposed cheap external effects in his lifetime, said after hearing one of Liszt’s solo concerts in 1840 that Liszt’s playing was indeed brilliant, but he more admired Liszt’s charming tenderness. He said that, apart from Chopin, no one else could rival him in this regard."