Louis Lortie / Franz Liszt – 'Années de pèlerinage' / Katowice Kultura Natura Festival - NOSPR

Years of pilgrimage. Culture and nature

Franz Liszt’s (1811–1886) 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 1877. 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 the correspondance 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! 

Stanisław Kosz

translated by John Comber

Duration of the concert (including break): approx. 110 minutes