Franz Liszt is more than his Hungarian Rhapsody.
He is more than flashy etudes showcasing astonishing technique.
For his birthday, I would like to share some of the deeper works of the composer.
This won’t be a comprehensive post, but I hope to provide a taste of sublime beauty and the profundity that Liszt so often endeavored to capture in his music, particularly in his later years.
A Taste of of Genius in Composition
- S.44 “Ave verum corpus” – Liszt composed choral settings to a large number of texts, both sacred and secular. There is some incredible music among these compositions that is sadly largely under the radar of all except those who purposely seek it out. Liszt himself was a Franciscan Catholic, and so many of these settings were particularly important to him.
- S.98 Symphonic Poem No.4 “Orpheus” – Liszt gets very creative and innovative with his harmonies in this piece. It’s beautiful.
- S.173 No. 3 “Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude” – This piece enraptures me. There are such powerful, emotionally-charged moments throughout the composition, but they are always restrained. They always feel under control. Everything feels like how things are as they should be. The entirety of S.173 is very nice.
- S.187 “Sancta Dorothea” – A sincere reflection on Saint Dorothy.
- S.134 “La lugubre gondola” – You can easily get lost in the introspection here. Listen to this alone in a quiet room. It’s incredible. S.200 are a couple other versions for solo piano.
- S.418 “Réminiscences de Don Juan” – Liszt was a top-tier transcriber, his transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies are the best-known examples. When he allows himself more freedom to play with the source material stunning results can emerge. I adore what he did with some of the Mozart operas. Mozart’s genius melodies and scene-setting, combined with Liszt’s soundscapes and musical effects, make for some of the most enjoyable music I know of to sit down and listen to.
- S.249 “Complainte” – The passion overflows from this piece. Sincerely exuberant. Perhaps a bit too saccharine for the taste of some.
Bonus
Nahre Sol, a pianist-composer on YouTube, has made a pair of very insightful videos on Liszt’s piano technique and his composition in general. I highly recommend checking them out – they are not shallow at all, as one might expect from the video-titles. The second video in particular provides a lot of historical context that she absorbed from her trip to Weimar in order to further study Franz Liszt.
Afterthoughts
I hope the pieces listed above serve as an interesting jumping off point for anyone who has not yet delved into the world of Liszt.
Any anecdotes or favorite pieces of your own are very welcome in the comments below~
Exploring Music 