#franzliszt

quick sketch during german class.

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a Hungarian composer of Romantic Music. Liszt first gained international fame as a piano virtuoso, an activity in which he was a pioneer, and then as a composer of piano works and symphonic poems, a form he created. A prolific transcriber of those who went before and a generous supporter of other composers, Liszt made a lasting contribution to the evolution of music.

5. Franz Liszt: Orage

The final post of this week is Orage (Storm) by Franz Liszt, who was born exactly 210 years ago on the 22nd of October, which is quite an important anniversary. Orage is the  5th movement of the first book of Anneés de Pelerinage (Years of Pilgrimage), and this series is inspired by his journey to Switzerland. Liszt wrote a caption for Orage, which is from Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage:

„But where of ye, O tempests’ is the goal?/Are ye like those within the human breast?/Or do ye find, at length, like eagles, some higher nest?’’

As we can see from the quote above, Liszt had a different, more romantic approach to nature. It can not be stated exactly if the piece tells us about an inner, or a meteorological storm, or maybe both. Before the 20th century, nature was feared, and its powers were associated with transcendental phenomenons. It is important to mention the importance of the tonality too: c minor is often  associated with the individual’s struggles, or the heroic fate. Many composers used c minor when they wrote such works, for example Beethoven, who had a special relationship with this tonality and last but not least he was the role model of romantic era composers.

The storm’s different elements (wind, rain, lightning, thunder) are depicted with powerful, almost terrifying series of chords and octaves, often written in heroic, dotted rhytms. The tonality is constantly changing, with neverending chromatic modulations. In the Cadenza large arpeggious sweep through, like wind, until the finale where the rhytmic patterns are broken with sudden rests before ending on a c minor chord.

Lazar Berman’s Liszt recordings are well known, especially Anneés de Pelerinage, which is mentioned in Haruki Murakami’s books too. I find his playing quite unique compared to most Liszt recordings.

Franz Liszt- Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2