Monthly Archives: September 2011

Review…’ Liszt fervently rendered’

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

LISZT: Annees de Pelerinage: Deuxieme Anne: Italie = Sposalizio; Il Penseroso; Canzonetta del Salvator Rosa; Three Petrarch Sonnets; Apres une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; Annees de Pelerinage: Premiere Annee: Au lac de Wallenstadt; Au bord d’une source; Annees … Continue reading →

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Opus 1 – a slow transformation into transcendence

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

As a composer, Liszt sometimes played the long game. The collection of ‘exercices’ published in 1826 in Paris as Etude en 48 Exercices dans tous les Tons Majeurs et Mineurs, and in Leipzig as Liszt’s Opus 1, became the 12 Grandes Etudes of 1838, and finally the Etudes d’Exécution Transcendante of … Continue reading →

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The Gervex in the Gite

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Christine Stevenson

A holiday in France is usually a piano-free zone, so it was a surprise to walk into a rural gite last week and to find an ancient Gervex upright. It was unplayable, though; woefully out-of-tune, and our hostess said it was too costly to … Continue reading →

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