Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt was definitely one of the greatest pianists in history. Here are just a few reasons why…

• He was the first piano “rock-star” virtuoso, thrilling audiences and capturing the hearts of women with his exciting playing.
• Franz Liszt invented the concept of the piano recital. Before him, nobody dared to have just a single pianist for an entire concert! But Liszt’s powerful and astounding playing were enough to fill concert halls all over Europe. He changed the position of the piano on the stage as well, so that the sound board faced the audience. This meant the music was louder and the audience could see Liszt’s acrobatic hand-work on the keyboard.
• Liszt’s level of technical skill was off the charts! After Liszt penned the Transcendental Etudes, Robert Schumann thought only a handful of piano players in the entire world were good enough to perform them.
• Liszt wrote over 1000 piano pieces, most of them original. This is ridiculous number, considering that most of his pieces are exceptionally high quality as well.
• Liszt used the piano to champion less well-known composers, by writing solo piano transcriptions of their works to be published and bought by amateur music makers.

WIth all these qualifications, his piano compositions have to be some of the most inventive and incredible ever written, right? I definitely think so! So here are videos of some of Liszt’s greatest and most popular pieces…

La Campanella, a delicate but extremely difficult piece. The pianist’s hands have to jump all over the place, but make the piece sound light at the same time:

Liebestraume No. 3, a warm and lyrical song. The title means “dream of love”, and Liszt definitely manages to portray that through this magical piece:

Hungarian Rhapsody No.2. The typical Liszt piece, this one has languid gypsy melodies, and an exciting fast section. Did I mention the melody in the fast section is world famous, and has been in hundreds of adverts and cartoons?

Un Sospiro (“a sigh”), a beautiful concert study, which always moves my heart:

For more, check out this site all about classical composers.