Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 07/26/2005, uploaded on 01/20/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Franz Liszt and Italy

"The beautiful in this special land became evident to me in its purest and most sublime form. Art in all its splendor disclosed itself to my eyes. It revealed its universality and unity to me. Day by day my feelings and thoughts gave me a better insight into the hidden relationship that unites all works of genius. Raphael and Michelangelo increased my understanding of Mozart and Beethoven; Giovanni Pisano, Fra Beato, and Il Francia explained Allegri, Marcello and Palestrina to me. Titian and Rossini appeared to me like twin stars shining with the same light. The Colosseum and the Campo Santo are not as foreign as one thinks to the Eroica Symphony and the Requiem. Dante has found his pictorial expression in Orcagna and Michelangelo, and someday perhaps he will find his musical expression in the Beethoven of the future."

Liszt's words are a clear example of his love for Italy. In his later years, during the period that eminent scholar Alan Walker calls "a threefold life," when Liszt divided his time among Rome, Weimar and Budapest, Rome was always a special, spiritual place for Liszt, a devout Catholic. Today's recital is dedicated to Italy as a source of inspiration in Liszt's piano works, and covers a wide range of his artistic output.

Après une lecture de Dante

First composed in 1839, the early version of this piece does not survive. The version to be performed today was revised in Weimar in 1849. It ends the second volume from the collection Years of Pilgrimage, subtitled Italy. It is a very powerful piano work, and its title refers to a poem by Victor Hugo, written after a reading of Dante's Inferno. Rather than a simplistic programmatic approach, the work portrays the endless search for something higher, common to every human being.    Alexandre Dossin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.