See just how tricky the second concerto is by watching Mikhail Pletnev giving it a good thrashing. It's worth bearing in mind that Liszt was also something of a touring rock star of the 19th century and, by this point, his skill on the piano was generally thought to be unsurpassed. Again, Liszt wrote sketches for some of the themes and then put them away again for a whole decade before incorporating them into his concerto. The second piano concerto (this time in A major) didn't take 26 years to complete, but it was hardly a lightning-fast process. Have a look at this absolutely thunderous performance by Martha Argerich to get an idea of what range Liszt was capable of coaxing from the piano: He wasn't beavering away at it constantly, but sketches for the main themes were found in his notebooks as far back as 1830 - the premiere performance was in 1855 with Liszt himself at the piano. So, that's the solo piano works done for now - it's time to move on to the concertos! Two mammoth monuments in the modern piano repertoire, they've stood the test of time not only because they're a huge technical challenge to perform, but because they're chock-full of gorgeous melodies and exciting flourishes. Listen to Wilhelm Kempff playing the first section below: The work is divided into three separate sections, each one detailing a year in a different country (but thankfully not lasting as long), so Liszt gets the opportunity to show off just how expressive a composer he could be. In Petrarchs poem, Pace non trovo (I Find no Peace), the poet is torn by wildly. His suite entitled 'Années de pèlerinage' (Years of Pilgrimage) runs the whole gamut from virtuosic fireworks to painfully emotive slow passages and most things in-between. Here, Liszt transforms Italian love poetry into passionate solo piano music. Obviously Liszt didn't spend all his time composing music for laughs though. This particular section is famous for appearing in a number of cartoons (Tom and Jerry famously had one of their madcap squabbles with this as a soundtrack), which is unsurprising given how quickly the piece changes mood. The first plays it completely straight - listen to how the painstaking and stately first section finally gives way to the joyous final section. Well, it's good to start with a laugh, so we've got two versions of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. Some of it's exciting, some of it uses Liszt's incredible virtuosity to full effect, and some of it is breathtakingly beautiful. Behind Chopin, he's probably the most notable piano composer in history (although that's a hotly contested accolade), with all manner of concertos, etudes, sonatas and transcriptions to his name. Are you a beginner when it comes to Franz Liszt's piano music? Why not take a look at our guide - it'll show you where to start, what to look out for and what to listen to next.įew composers have quite such a strong connection to a single instrument as Liszt does to the piano.
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