Rediscovering Liszt

From his early public appearances during the mid 1830s, to a performance in June 1840 that Liszt would title “Recitals at the Pianoforte” (the first use of the term; recital), to his final appearance as a touring virtuoso in October 1847 (retiring from the platform at just 35), Liszt performed well over 1000 concerts throughout most of Europe, bringing hysteria, frenzy and elation to audiences wherever he went. The international pandemic of “Lisztomania” swept across the world, seeing audiences screaming, ladies fainting, and Liszt’s gloves, cigar butts and even coffee dregs being pocketed for personal collections.

Modern documentation and cataloguing of these concerts is surprisingly sparse, and it is my hope that this recording will shed more light on what exactly made Liszt’s recitals so impactful, giving an informed and authentic impression of how Liszt may have played, with both musical style and programmes reconstructed. Wherever possible the first version of each piece is performed, most of which are seldom heard today and some of which have never been recorded. Also included are as many authentic variants and alternative cadenzas as possible — during Liszt’s time such moments were often spontaneously improvised by the performer — these seldom heard variations are included here to create the feel of improvisation. Along with the historical practices of unnotated arpeggiation, asynchrony of melody and accompaniment, and modification of rhythm and tempo, I believe this recording reignites the sound of an all but extinct style of pianism.
Connor Fogel, 2026

A MusicWeb International Recording of the Month "This is one of the most exciting and original all-Liszt discs I’ve heard in years. The entire concept of resurrecting Liszt’s original concert programming and playing the works in a historically informed manner is quite unique... The recorded sound is beautiful and captures the vintage Bösendorfer in its full glory. This is a release I would return to again, and again. Bravo!" Michael Kaykov, MusicWeb International

"Some thrillingly combustible pianism" Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review