Louis Lortie / Ferenc Liszt – „Années de pèlerinage” – concert cancelled - NOSPR

We sadly have to inform you that the concert was cancelled.

Franz Liszt’s piano cycle Années de pèlerinage lasts over two and a half hours, making it the most monumental structure in his entire oeuvre. Comprising three parts, or years, it contains twenty-three works written between 1837 and 1882. Here Liszt abandons the path of the keyboard virtuoso; he seeks to be a poet of sounds – his less familiar ‘other face’. In the first two volumes, he draws inspiration from his travels around Switzerland and Italy, where he delighted in the beauty of nature and works of art – painting, sculpture and literature. We visit the Chapel of William Tell and Lake Wallenstadt, we admire Raphael’s Marriage, and in three sonnets we join Petrarch in singing the virtues of Laura… This is now more than just the romantic ‘expression of feelings’; it also realises the idea of thecorrespondance des arts. The third part is ‘late’ Liszt, dominated by a tone of pondering and reflection, usually on eschatological matters, although in ‘The fountains of the Villa d’Este’ we hear a harbinger of musical impressionism! This is a remarkable, great work – and an exceptional opportunity to hear it! 

[translated by John Comber]

Duration of the concert (including break): approx. 170 minutes