Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt has been called the greatest virtuoso pianist of all time, and a visionary composer. An icon of the Romantic period, he had a tremendous instinct for showmanship, and was definitely a “rock star” in his time. In his youth, he was already a prodigious improviser, but it was not until he was an adult that his compositional brilliance began to emerge. Liszt studied with Czerny in Vienna, and then tried but failed to get into the Paris Conservatory. Nonetheless, he became a wellknown society figure in Paris, where both his romantic life and his piano wizardry caused much sensation. Inspired by the phenomenal technique and stage presence of the violinist Nicolò Paganini, he wrote progressively more challenging works for the piano, mostly for his own use. In his later years, Liszt mellowed somewhat, writing sacred works and more introspective compositions.

Recommended listening:

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S. 124.
• Hungarian Rhapsody for Piano No. 2 in C sharp minor, S. 244/2.
• Transcendental Etude for Piano No. 11, S. 139/11.