Michael Thalmann.
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Programme I–V

Five Perspectives on Liszt

Five recitals, each a complete programme of about sixty minutes. They can be played individually or as a cycle.

Five Perspectives on Liszt is a personal choice: an attempt to find a loosely coherent path through Liszt’s enormously colourful body of work, taking in as many of its aspects as possible, without being dogmatic.

Each of the five recitals stands on its own and is meant to be interesting to hear by itself. Together they form a cycle held by a loose thread, opening with Vallée d’Obermann, inspired by Senancour’s novel Obermann and its question “Who am I?”, and closing with Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude.

The cycle also loosely follows Liszt’s life. As a young man he wanted to become a priest; in his later years he took minor orders and became the Abbé Liszt. Between the two lies one of the richest and most colourful lives imaginable, artistically, personally and socially.

IDiversity, Venice, Melancholia, Excess8 pieces
  1. Vallée d’Obermann, Années de pèlerinage I: Suisse, S160
  2. Nuages gris, S199
  3. La lugubre gondola II, S200
  4. Études d’exécution transcendante: Harmonies du soir, S139
  5. Études d’exécution transcendante: Chasse-neige, S139
  6. Gondoliera, Années de pèlerinage II, Supplément: Venezia e Napoli, S162
  7. Canzone, Années de pèlerinage II, Supplément: Venezia e Napoli, S162
  8. Réminiscences de Norma (Bellini), S394
IIDeath from afar, Powerful imagery, Staging8 pieces
  1. Grandes études de Paganini, S141 No. 1
  2. Romance, S169
  3. Études d’exécution transcendante No. 6: Vision, S139
  4. Impromptu, S191
  5. Recueillement, S204
  6. En rêve, S207
  7. Pensée des morts (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses), S173 No. 4
  8. Après une lecture du Dante. Fantasia quasi sonata, S161/7
IIIPoetry, Structure, Work, Sincerity5 pieces
  1. Chapelle de Guillaume Tell, Années de pèlerinage I: Suisse, S160
  2. Sonetto 47 del Petrarca, Années de pèlerinage II: Italie, S161
  3. Sonetto 104 del Petrarca, Années de pèlerinage II: Italie, S161
  4. Sonetto 123 del Petrarca, Années de pèlerinage II: Italie, S161
  5. Sonata in B minor, S178
IVGravity, Sparseness barely softened, Coldness, Sorrow, Reflection on life10 pieces
  1. Consolations No. 1 and No. 2, S172
  2. Aux cyprès de la Villa d’Este II, Années de pèlerinage III, S163
  3. Sunt lacrymae rerum, Années de pèlerinage III, S163
  4. Oh! quand je dors
  5. La tombe et la rose
  6. Am Rhein, im schönen Strome
  7. Marche funèbre, Années de pèlerinage III, S163
  8. Sursum corda, Années de pèlerinage III, S163
  9. Abschied, S251
  10. Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este, Années de pèlerinage III, S163
VLiberation, Transformation, Transition, Open space, Faith8 pieces
  1. Stabat Mater, S172b
  2. Wiegenlied, S198
  3. Ave Maria (“Die Glocken von Rom”), S182
  4. Berceuse, S174 (2nd version)
  5. Romance oubliée, S527
  6. Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, S534 (4th version)
  7. Toccata, S197a
  8. Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses), S173 No. 3
Vallée d’ObermannBénédiction

For concert halls, festivals, churches and series: the cycle can be booked complete or as single programmes.

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