It’s Franz Liszt’s birthday, and I usually give him a pretty good write-up, since on top of all his musical achievements – his innovations, his influence, and his transcendental technique – he also happened to be a pretty good guy, if not without his foibles. In particular, he was exceptionally generous, often engaged in charitable causes and championing the needy, whether they be pupils, colleagues, or anonymous victims of disaster, and he always did so quietly and with the greatest humility. In a lot of ways, he also basically changed music, though it was often the case that others implemented or assimilated his original ideas with greater success.
Of course, as was the case with any Romantic virtuoso, there was also a whiff of diablerie about his reputation.
If you want to check out some of my previous posts on the subject, you can search Facebook under “Classic Ross Amico Liszt.” If you have the option to click on “photos” under the search bar, it could bring many of them up in a conveniently browsable form. Then just click on the photos for the texts.
Sadly, I’ve got a lot to do today, so I must sheepishly defer to a silly cartoon. I love Liszt, and that’s a fact.
You can learn more about his “Mephisto Waltzes” here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto_Waltzes
Jeffrey Swann was the first pianist to record all of them on a single record.
Here, I made it easy for you to search the older posts.
Happy birthday, Liszt!
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