Le Piano Symphonique
Franz Schubert (1797 ‒ 1828), arr. Franz Liszt (1811 ‒ 1886)
Songs: «Das Wandern», «Der Müller und der Bach»,
«Liebesbotschaft», «Aufenthalt», «Ständchen», «In der Ferne»
«Auf dem Wasser zu singen» «Erlkönig», «Ave Maria»
Richard Wagner (1813 ‒ 1883), arr. Franz Liszt
Fantasy about themes from «Rienzi»
Spinner song from «Der fliegende Holländer»
«O du mein holder Abendstern» from «Tannhäuser»
Elsa's bridal procession to the cathedral from «Lohengrin»
Love death from «Tristan und Isolde»
Franz Liszt’s piano arrangements of songs and opera melodies were discredited for a long time: they were dismissed as circus-like glittering work on white and black keys, as a second rehash of the musical original. It was not considered that such transformations of musical works have a long tradition and are not an innovation of the piano-obsessed 19th century. And Liszt always had a noble goal in mind: he wanted to bring music with a large or little-known cast closer to the public by performing it in arrangements in his legendary piano recitals. In doing so, he remained true to his own artistic standards: his song and opera arrangements reveal the ingenious master hand of the century-old pianist in every measure. Accordingly, he called his transcriptions “partition de piano”, and his opera transcriptions in particular are impressive teaching pieces in terms of tonal color variety and orchestral piano playing. For Liszt it was always clear that good piano playing is not limited to playing the piano.
