10 episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20070312 | With Donald Macleod. The first biography of Franz Liszt appeared when he was only 23, yet even in old age the superstar pianist-composer refused to write his own memoir. Nevertheless, more than 35,000 of his letters to musicians, royalty, friends and loved ones have survived, revealing the incredible story of his life in his own words. Preludio (Etudes d'execution transcendante) Jeno Jando (piano) Ave verum corpus BBC Singers Peter Dijkstra (conductor) Sonata in B minor George-Emmanuel Lazaridis (piano) Am grabe Richard Wagners Daniel Hyde (organ) Schubert arr Liszt: Der Müller und der Bach Arcadi Volodos (piano). | |||
| Liszt's Letters | 20070313 | Donald Macleod continues his survey of Liszt's life, told in the composer's own words. A homage to Liszt's virtuoso idol Paganini and a fiery symphony inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. La Campanella (Grandes Etudes de Paganini) Jorge Bolet (piano) Dante Symphony Berlin Philharmonic Daniel Barenboim (conductor). | ||
| Liszt's Letters | 20070314 | More tales from Liszt's travels, including an embarrassing mid-concert scuffle with a piano tuner, and compliments from the King on a brand new creation: the symphonic poem. Excelsior! Daniel Hyde (organ) Piano Concerto No 1 Louis Lortie (piano) Residentie Orchestra The Hague George Pehlivanian (conductor) Pater Noster I BBC Singers Daniel Hyde (organ) Peter Dijkstra (conductor) Tasso Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Karl Anton Rickenbacher (conductor). | ||
| Liszt's Letters | 20070315 | Donald Macleod delves into more of Liszt's writings, including the changing fortunes of his popularity as a composer and a musical premonition of Wagner's death in Venice. Ave Maria I Edward Goater (tenor) BBC Singers Peter Dijkstra (conductor) Totentanz (Danse macabre) Krystian Zimerman (piano) Boston Symphony Orchestra Seiji Ozawa (conductor) Andante maestoso Daniel Hyde (organ) Mephistopheles (A Faust Symphony) Orchestra of the Ferenc Liszt Academy András Ligeti (conductor) La lugubre gondola Thomas Hitzlberger (piano). | ||
| Liszt The Virtuoso | 20080623 | Donald Macleod surveys the range of Liszt's piano music, from the Second Hungarian Rhapsody to the work which Wagner called 'great, lovable, deep, and noble' - the Sonata in B minor. Preludio No 1 in (Douze etudes d'execution transcendante, S139) Douze etudes d'execution transcendante, S139 (No 10 in F minor; No 5 in B flat; No 8 in C minor) Boris Berezovsky (piano) Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C sharp minor, S244 Roberto Szidon (piano) Sonata in B minor for piano, S178 Alfred Brendel (piano). | ||
| Liszt The Traveller | 20080624 | Donald Macleod looks at the period beginning in 1835 when Liszt eloped with his pregnant mistress, the countess Marie d'Agoult - the beginning of a restless time the composer later immortalised in the first two volumes of his Annees de pelerinage. Pastorale No 3 (Annees de pelerinage - premiere annee, S160); Annees de pelerinage - Nos 2, 4 and 9 Alfred Brendel (piano) Vallee d'Obermann (Annees de pelerinage - premiere annee: Suisse, S160) Lazar Berman (piano) Gondoliera (Venezia e Napoli - supplement to Annees de pelerinage - deuxieme annee, S162); Apres une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata - Annees de pelerinage - deuxieme annee: Italie, S160) Jeno Jando (piano). | ||
| Liszt The Re-composer | 20080625 | Donald Macleod investigages why Liszt spent so much time re-arranging existing music - by composers such as Bach, Schubert and Mozart - instead of writing more of his own. Schubert: Der sturmische Morgen (Winterreise - transcr for solo piano by Liszt, S561) Anastasia Voltchok (piano) Bach: Prelude in A minor, BWV 543 No 1 (Six Organ Preludes and Fugues - transcr for solo piano by Liszt, S462) Artur Pizarro (piano) Schubert: Der Lindenbaum (Winterreise - transcr for solo piano by Liszt, S561) Anastasia Voltchok (piano) Reminiscences de Don Juan, S418 (1841) Earl Wild (piano) Mazeppa (Douze etudes d'execution transcendante, S139) Claudio Arrau (piano) Mazeppa Budapest Symphony Orchestra Arpad Joo (conductor). | ||
| Liszt The Song Composer | 20080626 | Donald Macleod explores Liszt's songs, including settings of Heine, Hugo and Petrarch. While he is not often thought of as a composer of songs, Liszt wrote around 80 of them, some of which are considered to be among his finest works. Vergiftet sind meine Lieder, S289 (text: Heine) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) Daniel Barenboim (piano) Die Loreley, S273 No 2 (text: Heine) Hildegard Behrens (soprano) Cord Garben (piano) Ich mochte hingehn, S296 (text: Herwegh) Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) Daniel Barenboim (piano) Four settings of Victor Hugo: S'il est un charmant gazon, S284; Enfant, si j'etais roi, S283; Comment, disaient-ils, S276; Oh! quand je dors, S282 Brigitte Fassbaender (soprano) Irwin Gage (piano) Tre sonnetti di Petrarca, S270: Pace non trovo; Benedetto sia il giorno; I vidi in terra angelici costumi Thomas Quasthoff (baritone) Justus Zeyen (piano). | ||
| COTW | 05 LAST | Liszt The Visionary | 20080627 | Donald Macleod explores the very modern, forward-looking works of Liszt's final decade. Am Grabe Richard Wagners, S202 Kronos Quartet Aki Takahashi (piano) Marcella DeCray (harp) Bagatelle sans tonalite, S216a Valse oubliee No 1, S215 Leslie Howard (piano) Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe (Symphonic Poem No 13), S107 Leipzig Gewandhausorchester Kurt Masur (conductor) Les jeux d'eau a la Villa d'Este (Annees de pelerinage, troisieme annee, S163) Alfred Brendel (piano) La lugubre gondola, S134 Steven Isserlis (cello) Stephen Hough (piano) Nuages Gris, S199; Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort, S203; Unstern! Sinistre, disastro, S208 Paul Lewis (piano) Go not, happy day, S335 (Text: Tennyson) Thomas Hampson (baritone) Geoffrey Parsons (piano). |
| COTW | 05 LAST | Liszt's Letters | 20070316 | Donald Macleod looks at Liszt's spiritual side, from his obsession with legends of good versus evil, to his minor orders in the church which led the Hungarian composer to be labelled 'half gypsy, half priest'. Mephisto Waltz No 1 Jorge Bolet (piano) Via Crucis: Les 14 stations de la croix Carolyn Foulkes, Olivia Robinson (sopranos) Lynette Alcántara (mezzo-soprano) Edward Goater (tenor) Edward Price (baritone) Charles Gibbs (bass) BBC Singers Peter Dijkstra (conductor). |