![]() ![]() ![]() (A third piano concerto, also in E-flat major, was unearthed in 1988, pieced together from pages in libraries in Leningrad, Weimar, and Nuremberg. On the other hand, he tended to anguish over those of his works that he envisioned more for posterity, works in the “big” forms of the symphony or the concerto, for example.He completed two full-scale concertos for piano-his Second, in A major, would follow this work in 1861, also following a long gestation period-but he also composed about twenty other pieces for piano with orchestra, including such still-programmed pieces as his Hungarian Fantasy and Totentanz. Liszt could turn out facile piano solos at the drop of a hat in fact, he had no trouble improvising dazzling showpieces on the spot. 1 was composed, and re-composed, and revised again and again over a quarter of a century. THE BACKSTORY Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. INSTRUMENTATION: 2 flutes and piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets,2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, and strings Jeremy Denk was soloist and Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Gottfried Galston was soloist with Henry Hadley conducting. US PREMIERE: December 2, 1865, with Theodore Thomas’s Symphony Soirée at Irving Hall in New York, Sebastian Bach Mills playing the solo part WORLD PREMIERE: February 17, 1855, at the Ducal Palace in Weimar, Germany, with Hector Berlioz conducting the Court Orchestra and the composer as soloist It is dedicated to pianist and composer Henry Litolff in Bayreuth, Bavaria (Germany)ĬOMPOSED: Begun around 1830, reworked through that decade, and composed into its eventual form mostly from the late 1840s through 1853, and revised in 1855-56. Live with City of Nevers Symphony Orchestra (France), dir.DIED: July 31, 1886. With vigorous chromatic scales and triumphal chords, Liszt concludes the Concerto in his signature heroic and bombastic manner. Marked Allegro marziale animato, the finale provides an energetic conclusion to the Concerto and draws its thematic material together. In fact, t he prominent part given to it drew the contempt of Eduard Hanslick at the premiere dubbing the work “Liszt’s Triangle Concerto.” The melodic material from the opening of the first movement returns to form the basis of the movement’s close before it culminates on a discordant diminished seventh chord, preparing the arrival of the finale. A sprightly and jocular movement, it employs the added sound of triangle. The following Quasi Adagio turns more serene, shifting to the key of B major and introducing an expansive lyrical subject in the strings and answered by the piano.įollowing the hushed close of the second movement is the scherzo-like Allegretto vivace. This vigorous theme is later answered by a lyrical duet between piano and clarinet. The first movement, an Allegro maestoso, begins in a purely Lisztian fashion with the entire work’s motivic kernel announced by the full-force of the strings and answered by a thunderous eruption of octaves from the piano. Like his Piano Sonata in B minor, the Concerto is cast, essentially, as a four-movement work, played without breaks, fused into single structure. 1 in E-flat major reinterprets the structures handed down to him from the masters of the Classical era. Completed in 1849, Liszt continued to revise the work until its premiere in 1855, and even more until its publication the following year.Īs one would expect from Liszt, the Piano Concerto No. Knowing his weakness, Liszt called on his pupil, Joachim Raff, to help with the orchestration. Already relishing in his reputation as Europe’s greatest piano virtuoso, Liszt’s fame thus far as a composer hinged virtually on his piano solo works and he had not yet conquered the numerous sounds capable from the orchestra. Yet, he did commence serious work on the concerto until the 1840s. The first sketches of its main themes date from 1830 when Liszt was only nineteen years of age. Premiered in Weimar on Februwith the composer himself at the piano and Hector Berlioz leading the orchestra, Liszt’s First Piano Concerto suffered a long, protracted genesis. ![]()
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