Chopin & Liszt: Piano Works

Twenty-five-year-old Georgian pianist Mariam Batsashvili’s debut album for Warner Classics features music by two of the 19th century’s great pianist-composers. Franz Liszt is a figure of particular significance to Batsashvili, who studied at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Weimar and won the Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 2014. She plays a variety of pieces by Liszt, including the Chants polonais S 480, written in response to works by Frédéric Chopin – several of whose original compositions she plays as well.

Featuring

Mariam Batsashvili
Franz Liszt
Frédéric Chopin

Did you know?

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Compositional Technique

The 'Stern-Consolation' nickname for the fourth piece of Liszt's Consolations comes from a guiding star design printed atop the score.

Composition History

After Frédéric Chopin's death, Franz Liszt undertook several commemorative projects, including a book on Chopin and the reworking of six of Chopin's songs.

Composition History

The title of Franz Liszt's Consolations comes from an anthology of the same name published in 1830 by Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve.

Critical Reception

Robert Schumann believed that Franz Liszt's Grandes Études of 1837 could only be played by Liszt himself.

Performer Biography

Mariam Batsashvili, the pianist on this album, won first prize by unanimous vote at the Utrecht International Liszt Competition.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Franz Liszt's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is described as one of his most personal musical documents, reflecting the best aspects of the man.